Nothing to Say, the Guilty are Safe
by Halawen
Summary: One moment stole Clare's voice & she's been silent ever since. Treated as an outcast even in her own home & isolated but now she's attending DeGrassi. Big brother Jake is there to guide her & she's made a few friends; Adam, Drew, Bianca, Owen & especially Fitz. Can they find out what made her silent & help her get her voice back? Drama and fluff be sure to read A/Ns.
1. Becoming Wise in Simplicity

**Welcome to the new Sunday story! I dedicate this to Christlove88 who had the idea for this story and trusted me to bring it to life.**

 **Legal: I do not own and am not associated with DeGrassi or Epitome, nor would I admit to it if I were at this point.**

 **All the very important things you should know before reading:**

 ***This story deals with selective mutism, a complex anxiety disorder usually brought on in early childhood. As I don't personally know anyone nor have any experience with selective mutism everything in this story about it is conjecture on my part from the research I've done.**

 ***Clare was an only child and Darcy does not exist in this story. When Clare was three her mom began having an affair with Jake's dad.**

 ***Helen Edwards married Glen Martin when Clare was five and Jake was six. Helen adopted Jake and Glen adopted Clare.**

 ***The Martin family is not religious in this story.**

 ***Since Jake has been in Toronto since he was young he went to DeGrassi in grade nine.**

 ***Drew started at DeGrassi in grade nine and a year later Adam started in grade nine. Adam never liked Bianca and Fitz and Owen never bullied Adam. Eli came to DeGrassi last year in his grade ten year.**

 ***Our story begins on the first day of school, Clare and Adam are starting grade ten and Jake, Fitz, Owen, Bianca and Drew are starting grade eleven.**

 **Ch. 1 Becoming Wise in Simplicity**

 **(FITZ)**

"Another year at DeGrassi, is it sad that I actually missed the place? I mean at least it's something to do instead of hanging out at the ravine all day," Bianca remarks joining me on the picnic table.

"It's not all bad being back at school, no one messes with us," I shrug.

"Yeah because no one's that dumb, well except maybe Steve and Barry but they're usually too high to mess with us," Bianca comments as we see Owen pull up. He parks and comes over to us.

"How was the vacation?" I ask him.

"Very lame, my parents went antiquing; Tris spent all of his time at the pool watching the bartender. There were some hot girls in bikinis though," he grins.

"Hey there's Jake but who's in the truck with him?" I question noticing the pretty girl with the short cinnamon colored hair sitting next to him.

"No idea, maybe Jake got a girlfriend over the summer," Owen suggests.

"Well whoever she is she's new," Bianca remarks.

I watch them get out of the truck and walk across the parking lot to the front of school. The new girl seems extremely nervous to be here, she's sort of hiding behind Jake like she doesn't want to be seen. Of course she's new so everyone that's in the courtyard is looking at her. She bites her lip and looks down gripping onto Jake's sleeve.

"She seems overly shy it's kind of weird," Owen remarks.

"Let's go inside I bet Drew is already here," Bianca says hopping off the table.

When we get in Jake has a hand on the girl's arm and he's talking to her, whatever their relationship she doesn't seem to be his girlfriend. The girl nods and Jake escorts her down the hall with a hand at her back. Bianca sees Drew at the sports bulletin board, she goes over to kiss him and Owen goes over to see what's going on in DeGrassi sports. Since sports are not my thing I go off to my locker, the others join me after a few minutes. Well they go to their own lockers but we all have them in the same hallway. We stay by our lockers and compare classes I find out I have auto shop with Drew and Owen second period, photography with the three of them third period and math with Drew last period. I just don't have any of them in homeroom, my home room is media studies which is an open class for grade ten. I didn't take it last year and barely passed most of my classes last year so I thought taking a grade ten class would be easy.

When the bell rings we disperse to walk to our classes, last year Simpson taught media studies but this year he's principal. We have a new teacher this year; she looks pretty young and must have just graduated college last summer. She's pretty hot for a teacher and is attracting the looks of most of the males in this room. I sit at a desk in the back which is where I always sit. The only other person I knew in this class is Adam and I take the desk right behind his. Adam is Drew's younger brother and started going here last year when he was in grade nine. My step-bastard Steve found out Adam was transgender. He found out by accident, he pushed Adam in the hall and felt that he had breasts. Steve and Barry held Adam down in the hall and ripped open his shirt. They probably would have done more but Owen, Drew, Bianca and I came along. Bianca helped Adam while the three of us restrained Steve and Barry. They were suspended for three months and sent to juvie because Adam pressed charges. Drew and Bianca were already dating at that point and we already knew Adam a little but that's when everyone found out about Adam. Sadly Barry and Steve served their time and returned to the school. Now however any time they try to bully anyone and we find out about it we stop them.

"Hey Fitz," Adam grins.

"Hi Adam, get a load of the new teacher, she's a definite improvement on Mr. Simpson," I comment.

"She's definitely better to look at, and she's young which either means she's a cool teacher with fresh ideas or she'll stink at teaching and I'll be bored," Adam says.

"Hey if she's bad maybe she won't notice how dumb I am and I'll do okay," I remark and Adam laughs. He looks like he might say something but then everyone's attention is brought to the door. Jake is in the doorway with that girl, she looks nervous still and Jake is talking to her, he seems to be encouraging her to come in.

"You must be Clare Martin, please come in," the teacher encourages.

"You'll be fine, I'll see you at lunch," Jake tells her.

"Martin? She must be his sister, they do look a little alike but I didn't know Jake had a sister," I comment quietly.

"Me either but I don't really know Jake that well," Adam shrugs as the bell rings.

"Welcome class I'm Miss Oh," the teacher says. "It's my first year as a teacher so we'll be learning together. "I'd like you all to welcome someone else new to the school, this is Clare Martin some of you probably know her brother Jake. Please make her feel welcome, Clare is very intelligent and we are happy to have her. She is also mute so she will not be answering any questions by talking. Clare there's an empty seat in the third row next to…" Miss Oh says pointing at Adam.

"Adam," he replies with a kind smile at Clare but the friendly smile almost seems to make her more nervous.

"Why don't you take that seat next to Adam," Miss Oh tells her and Clare nods. I wonder if her nervousness is because she can't talk. I also wonder where she's been going to school up to now.

"Hi I'm Adam Torres, and this is Fitz," Adam tells her and she smiles nervously.

"This school isn't too bad, we can show you around if you want," I offer.

She just looks between us, it's like she's not used to people being friendly. She sort of bites her lip and then nods with a small smile. I grin back and it makes her smile just a tiny bit brighter. Miss Oh starts class by talking about what we'll be doing this semester but I admit I spent most of the time studying Clare. She's short; when she was standing next to Jake he seemed to be a foot taller than her. She's voluptuous and has an angelic face and lips, her eyes are like two blue crystals and when she looks at you it's hard not to be mesmerized by them. While Miss Oh talks about our first assignment I become hypnotized by the way Clare's leg bounces nervously under the table.

"You'll be in groups of three for this assignment Adam why don't you work with Clare," Miss Oh says and I feel Adam tap my arm.

"You want to be in our group Fitz?" Adam questions.

"Yeah cool," I nod. "Uh what's the assignment? I wasn't quite paying attention," I admit after we've grouped our desks together.

"A timeline of media outlets," Adam says.

Clare gets a notebook from her purse and writes in it: **Yes like TV but that was not the first outlet. Media's always been controlled by the people with power.**

We spend the rest of the class working on it, Clare might not talk but she's very smart, she might even be smarter than Adam. Between her and Adam's brains we get our timeline done first and turn it in to Miss Oh. Since there's only ten minutes before the bell Miss Oh dismisses us, after giving us our text books and the homework for tonight.

"So what's your next class?" Adam asks Clare.

Clare takes her phone out and types on it: **Math principles with Mr. Armstrong**

"Me too," Adam smiles and Clare gives him a half smile, at least she doesn't seem quite as nervous to be around us.

"Well I'm going to go put my book in my locker so I'm not carrying it around the rest of the day," I comment.

"Yeah good idea," Adam says and I look at Clare she nods to say she wants to put her book in her locker and we start walking.

"Do you know which is your locker?" I question and she nods so we go to her locker first. Her locker is close to Adam's so he stashes his book.

"So where'd you go to school before this?" Adam inquires while we walk to my locker.

 **Layton Academy** she types on her phone showing us both when we reach my locker. I've never heard of the school before and apparently neither has Adam.

"Where's that?" He questions.

 **Scarborough. Private school for kids with special needs.**

"So they thought you were disabled because you can't talk?" Adam queries and Clare shrugs. "Well we still have a few minutes before the bell you want us to show you around?" Adam offers and Clare nods. We start walking down the hall and show her around a bit. When the bell rings to let classes out most of the kids stare at her because she's new and obviously not in grade nine.

"Don't worry they're just looking at you because you're new and they have nothing better to do," I tell her.

"We should get to our next class, see you Fitz," Adam speaks up after showing Clare around another couple of minutes.

I wave to them and walk to class but I can't help but wonder what Clare's story is and why she was going to a special needs school. Other than not being able to talk she seems perfectly normal, okay so she's pretty painfully shy but most of that could have to do with being new. She's smart and nice, she doesn't have any learning disabilities she just doesn't talk, there are lots of people I wish couldn't talk.

 **(CLARE)  
**

"Don't worry most kids are nice at this school," Adam tells me as we enter our math class.

Adam's very nice; he and Fitz were both kind to me in homeroom. Not really something I've ever had from strangers and there weren't too many nice people at my old school. And after Jake and Mom warned me about people, especially boys, pretending to be nice but really not being nice and only tricking me, I was wary of their kindness. However I don't think they are tricking me and believe their friendship to be genuine.

When Miss Campbell, my teacher for the last three years, first brought up the suggestion I attend a normal high school I was excited. Jake was not, I'd been the dark family secret as long as I could remember and everyone else was happy to keep it that way. It took months of me, Miss Campbell and Mrs. Wallace, the counselor at my old school, convincing my parents that a normal high school would be good for me. That it was far more suited to my academic potential and I could possibly make friends. They finally agreed and even Jake finally thought it was a good idea. He's spent the last two weeks of summer preparing me for what a regular high school was like.

As excited as I had been to come I was very nervous when we arrived. Actually I'd been nervous since we met with Mr. Simpson last week. We had to meet with him because I was still considered special needs since I didn't talk. He said it wasn't a problem and he would simply inform all my teachers that I would have to answer without speaking. I realized just how very different I'd be at this school, how the teachers would have to make concessions for me and kids, normal kids without any kind of disability or "special need", would probably spurn me. None the less I was determined to go to a regular high school and be as much of a regular kid as I could.

"Hi Adam," a girl smiles coming into class and taking a seat next to Adam and then she looks at me, "hey you must be the new girl I'm Alli."

"She talks enough for the both of you," Adam says quietly while Alli shakes my hand.

"You'll like DeGrassi it's a good school. Maybe you should try out for cheerleading both me and my best friend Jenna are going to try out. Oh this Jenna, and her boyfriend K.C., my boyfriend is Dave Turner but he's not in this class. My brother Sav is a senior he's student body president this year and he's going steady with Anya and they've been dating for like ever. Oh but Holly J is the…"

"Alli take a breath," Adam cuts her off and she sits down. "That's Connor, Wes and Hannah. Everyone this is Clare Martin, she's Jake's little sister."

"Jake who?" Connor asks.

"Martin," K.C. says shooting Connor a look for asking an obvious question.

"Connor has Asperger's so he's not always good at the standard social protocol but he's really smart and a generally good guy. Clare's also smart but she's mute so don't expect her to answer your questions," Adam tells them.

"Well at least you can't put your foot in your mouth, Connor does it all the time," K.C. laughs and Connor shoots him a look now.

"I promise they're all nice," Adam assures me just as Mr. Armstrong comes in.

"Welcome everyone, this will not be an easy math class so be prepared. Before we get started I want to introduce Clare Martin to the class. She's new this year and you should all make her feel welcome. Clare is mute so she will not be answering me the same way as the rest of you. Okay I'm passing out text books turn to page 16," Armstrong says turning to the blackboard.

 **I think all my teachers are going to single me out.** I type on my phone passing it to Adam and he smiles.

"Something to share Mr. Torres?" Mr. Armstrong asks.

"Just helping Clare get oriented," Adam replies and I smile because he's quick.

Mr. Armstrong goes back to the board and we look in our math books. I'm good at math, pretty much good at everything academic. I have an above average I.Q. and learned to read at aged three. I read a lot, I don't talk so it's hard to connect with people and reading was always an escape. Before attending school I'd already taught myself a good deal and at my old school I was too advanced for the math class they put me in so I worked independently. It was just another point of isolation in my life. I've already done everything in this first chapter of the text book. I flip through the pages as Mr. Armstrong talks and I'm able to work out most of the solutions in my head. So when Mr. Armstrong asks for someone to work out the problem on the board I raise my hand.

"Clare, sure come on up. Can someone come up and explain what Clare is doing to the rest of the class?" Armstrong requests and Alli raises her hand. I solve the problem and Alli says what I'm doing as I go. Armstrong tells me I'm right when I'm done and thanks us both and we sit down again.

"Nice work, Armstrong likes giving a really tough problem on the first day class," Jenna smiles at me.

I smile back thinking this school might not be so bad after all, at least most of the kids seem nice. The bell rings to signal lunch and I walk with the group out of class.

"Clare, Adam you want to eat with us?" Fitz asks walking over with a tall boy who has dark hair and dark blue eyes. Another boy is with them, he has olive skin, dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. The three of them make quite the attractive trio and I find myself blushing.

"Sure," Adam shrugs.

We all visit our lockers to grab lunches and a girl joins us, she has lots of dark curls and dark eyes. She's quite pretty and kisses the boy with olive skin. We take our lunches out to the picnic tables and sit down.

"Clare this is Owen, Drew and Bianca," Fitz introduces us.

"Drew's my brother," Adam tells me. I narrow my eyes and look between them, they look nothing alike, they could not be more opposite in looks. "We're not related by blood, my dad married his mom when we were little. My dad adopted him and his mom adopted me," Adam explains.

 **Like me and Jake.** I type on my phone and show it to Adam.

"So you and Jake aren't related by blood?" Adam asks and I shake my head.

"Doesn't she talk?" Drew questions and I shake my head again.

"She's mute, she's in our homeroom and she's very smart," Adam says.

"I didn't even know Jake had a sister," Owen comments.

 **They don't like to talk about me. I've been the dark family secret for a long time. Jake's dad married my mom when I was five. His dad adopted me and my mom adopted Jake.**

"I was five when our parents married too," Adam tells me and I smile. Adam and I share a lot in common and I already feel a connection to him.

"What did she say?" Fitz asks.

"She was five when her mom married Jake's dad and her mom adopted Jake and his Dad adopted her, just like mine and Drew's parents," Adam replies but doesn't tell them I'm the skeleton in the family closet.

"Cool, none of us really hang out with Jake he mostly keeps to himself and his projects. He does seem to party a lot but not with our crowd," Bianca comments and I nod.

Jake does prefer to be out of the house, our parents are so wrapped up in each other they barely notice us. We don't have many rules and I'm at school a lot anyway, when not at school I'm secluded to my room. My mutism keeps me isolated from people, Mom homeschooled me until grade six when they put me into Layton's. At which point I began learning ASL but only the very basics and it was only useful at school since my family didn't ever learn. I've spent most of my life communicating by writing or typing on a phone. Jake's not a bad brother, he does protect me when the need arises and when he is home he always comes into my room to talk to me. At least he tries, our parents tend to just avoid me they hardly ever talk to me, they talk at me but not to me.

I eat lunch while listening to the others talk, Drew and Owen talk about football and I find out they're both on the football team. Adam talks about drama club and says I could help out as a stage manager or something if I wanted, he offers to talk to Eli who is the head of the drama club. I write down that I'll think about it and he nods. I don't know about something like drama club it sounds like a lot of people and a need to communicate which wouldn't be easy. The rest of lunch is nice Owen is very nice, Drew and Bianca are a sweet couple and I already feel like Fitz and Adam are my friends.

"What class do you have now?" Adam asks me after we've walked back inside to our lockers.

I start to pull my class list from my locker but when I see a shadow approaching I turn to see who it is. An older boy approaches with another boy behind him and I know they're trouble before they even talk. I know they're trouble because of how Adam tenses up when he sees them.

"Well look at this it must be a freak convention, the he-she and a girl that don't speak," says the boy in front. "You're pretty hot, even if you don't speak I bet I can make you scream," he grins stepping closer to me and caressing the back of his fingers along my cheek.

I back up into my locker and shrink away from him, I haven't had much experience with boys affections but I know this is bad. His other hand reaches out to grab my breast and Adam steps over batting it away.

"Leave her alone Steve."

"I think I'll make you both scream," Steve grins maliciously.

 **(FITZ)**

Owen, Bianca, Drew and I all have photography next and Drew says Adam has the same class. So we stash our books in our lockers and walk over to find Adam so we can all walk to class together. I also want to know what class Clare has next. When we turn down the hall to the sophomore lockers I see that my step-bastard Steve and his crony Barry have Clare and Adam cornered. The others see it too and we run over, I grab Steve and punch him hard.

"STAY AWAY FROM THEM," I yell.

"You fucker wait till I tell Dad," Steve hisses at me just as the bell rings and I look at Clare and Adam. Bianca and Drew are standing with them and Owen has Barry by the throat.

"Either of you comes near any of us again I will make sure you regret it," Owen growls and pushes Barry away.

"What's going on? Clare you okay?" Jake questions coming over and looking at her and she nods.

"Steve and Barry were bugging them we took care of it," Owen says.

"Stay away from those two, they're nothing but trouble. You have photography next right?" Jake asks Clare and she nods again.

"We all have photography next we'll take her," I tell Jake.

"Yeah good, wait for me at your locker after school," Jake instructs her and she nods.

"Come on we better get to class before the late bell," I comment offering my hand to Clare and she looks at it a few seconds before taking my hand. We all run to class coming in just as the bell rings, and we kick all of the kids off the back two tables so we can sit down. Eli comes in after us and he sits at the table in front of Adam, Clare and I.

 **That Steve guy, he's your brother?** Clare types on her phone and hands it to me as the teacher welcomes us to class.

"Regretfully he's my stepbrother but he's an ass and I hate his guts. If he bothers you again tell me," I whisper to her. She doesn't type a response or even nod, she just briefly bites her lip before releasing it from her teeth slowly.

The teacher introduces Clare and tells everyone she's mute. We spend our whole first class watching a presentation on famous photographers and the history of photography. There's no talking which is good for Clare but she seems fairly shaken after her encounter with Steve, not that I blame her he's a creep and I know what he's like with girls.

"What's your last class?" Adam asks Clare when the bell rings.

"Hey you're the new girl right? Jake's sister? He mentioned he had a sister but never really talked about you. Anyway I'm Eli, I run the drama club and Jake always builds the sets. Adam usually works on the plays too," Eli introduces himself to Clare and she smiles in response.

"I told her she could probably help with the play as a stage manager or something and she said she'd think about it," Adam tells Eli.

"Yeah cool well I better get to class," Eli grins and walks off.

"Eli's pretty cool, he's my best friend. So what's your next class?" Adam asks her again and she shows him her class list. "You have forces of nature next with me, we have all our classes together, come on it's this way," Adam smiles. Clare smiles knowing all her classes are with Adam and they walk down the hall.

"We got math next," I comment to Drew rolling my eyes because I hate math.

"Yeah see you guys," Drew says to Owen and Bianca and we wave to them as we walk down the hall.

When we get to math class I see Jake in the classroom and we nod to him sitting down at two desks in the row behind him. Armstrong comes in and starts class; he breaks into pairs for a project. I get paired with Jake so he changes seats with Drew so we can work on it.

"Your sister's nice, she seems pretty shy but I guess that's because she's knew. Or maybe because she can't talk," I remark after looking at the instructions for the project.

"She can talk, or at least she could, she wasn't born that way. I first met her when she was three and she wouldn't shut up. She was only three and she used all these big words I didn't understand, big words I'd never heard most adults use. She knew she was way smarter than me and she liked it because I was older than her and didn't understand what she was saying. Then she just stopped, one day she just wasn't talking at all and she hasn't said a word since. Our parents took her to a doctor and they called it selective mutism, said it was an anxiety disorder usually brought on by trauma."

"What trauma?" I question.

"I have no idea," Jake says and then looks up at me from his paper. "You know I've never told anyone that. I've never talked about it before with anyone but for some reason I just told you everything. I know you just met her today and you don't have the best reputation but I get the sense that I can trust you with her. Can't say that about most people, she's always been sort of treated like a leper because she doesn't talk, even by our parents, I can't really say I'm much better. But you don't treat her like that, you and Adam, Drew, Owen and Bianca I saw what you guys did in the hall. How you were with her, she's never really had friends before."

"Never? But didn't she go to another school?"

"Yeah Layton's but that wasn't the place for her. Most of the kids there had severe autism or other learning disabilities, brain damage and that kind of thing. There were a couple of blind kids and stuff but Clare didn't belong there. Better than Mom trying to school her at home I guess. Come on we should get to work," Jake comments when Armstrong starts walking over to us.

We get to work and finish the project before the bell although we are the last two to turn it in. Of course I've always been really bad at math. I walk out of class with Drew and Jake is right in front of us.

"Hey Jake," Katie says running up to him, "I was hoping you could come over and help me with the homework for the architectural design class."

"Uh yeah sure," he smiles and it's obvious he likes her, "but I have to get my sister home first."

"I can take Clare home," I speak up and Jake looks at me. "It's no problem really you can help Katie and I'll see to it that Clare gets home safe."

"Are you sure?" Jake questions.

"Yeah no trouble and you said I was good with her, I'm sure she'll trust me to take her home."

"Okay thanks Fitz," Jake nods.

Drew and I walk down the hall and he shakes his head at me, "I got football see you tomorrow."

I wave to him and walk off to find Clare; I hope she really does trust me to take her home. I want to know more about her, I want to know why she's never had friends, why her family's been hiding her and what happened that was so bad she stopped speaking.

 **Well I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter and it's probably a little cruel to give you a single chapter with no update next week. It's one shot week next week so none of the long stories will be updated this will resume on Sunday September 13** **th** **picking up from Fitz taking Clare home.**


	2. I Have No Reason to be Over Optimistic

**Thank you to everyone who read the premier chapter, and a special thank you to all those who took the time to review. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

 **Ch. 2 I Have No Reason to be Over Optimistic**

 **(FITZ)**

"Hey," I grin walking up to Clare, she's at her locker with Adam and she waves. "Katie asked Jake for help with some homework and I offered to take you home."

 **Okay. See you tomorrow Adam.** Clare types on her phone showing it to both of us.

"By Clare," he smiles.

She closes her locker and follows me out to my car. Before getting in she types her address on her phone and shows it to me. Her house is close and it only takes a few minutes to get there. I park out front and get out following her inside.

 **Thanks for the ride Fitz.**

"It was no trouble," I smile.

She bites her lip and looks around uncomfortably. Remembering that Jake said she's never had friends and no one even knew he had a sister she's probably never had people to the house.

"I can stay if you want, until Jake or your parents get home. We can do homework together," I offer.

She looks thoughtful for a moment and then nods. She motions to the table and we sit down. I get out my books to do homework and Clare goes to the fridge.

 **You want a snack or something?** She writes on a little chalkboard she retrieved from a pocket shelf on the kitchen island. I assume it's there so she can communicate with her family.

"Yeah anything is fine I'm not picky," I say and get up to help her. "I have math with Jake and he told me that you could talk, when he first met you when you were really little he said you could talk," I venture slowly. She closes the fridge and looks at me biting her lip. "Selective mutism he said and it's usually brought on by trauma. Did something happen that was so traumatic it made you stop talking?"

She doesn't say anything but she looks down, her body begins to shake. At first she trembles just a little bit and it's barely perceivable and then she starts shaking violently. She crumples into a ball on the floor, her knees curled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them and her head down. She's crying, bawling so hard she can't breathe. She was fine a few seconds ago and now she looks like a frightened and upset child. I just stare at her; I have no idea what to do she's crying so hard and shaking and so upset. After a few seconds I kneel down and put my hand on her back.

"It's okay. Whatever happened you don't need to think about it okay. Just put it out of your head, it was a long time ago you're safe now Clare. Don't think about it, you want a snack or something to drink? I can get it, you just sit down I'll take care of it you're safe now," I tell her in a calm voice as I softly rub her back. I don't know what else to do but this seems to work. At least she stops crying and wipes her eyes, after another minute she stops shaking and looks up at me. I smile and she sort of smiles back, she starts to stand up and I help her. She opens the fridge again and gets out some cheese. "I got it, I can do this you just sit down," I insist taking the cheese from her hands.

She gives me a bigger smile now and sits at the table. I find crackers in the pantry and some plates. cut some cheese putting it on one plate with some crackers, give us each another plate and some water.

 **Thanks.** Clare types on her phone giving me another smile.

"No sweat I have to make food for myself all the time that was easy."

Clare grins and begins on her homework. We eat and do homework; every so often we'll look up at each other at the same time and smile. Clare finishes her homework first while I'm stuck on a math problem. She looks at me and I guess she sees how frustrated I am because she moves to the chair right next me and looks at the problem I'm stuck on. She takes my pencil and erases everything I just did and then gives me back the pencil.

"It's no use I don't understand the problem at all," I sigh throwing down the pencil and sinking down in the chair. She twists her mouth at me and picks the pencil up handing it back to me. Grabbing her pencil from the other side of the table and her notebook she writes a problem down and gives it to me. "That's different at least I understand that problem," I tell her.

She taps her pencil next to the problem she just wrote down to indicate that I need to solve it. I sigh and do the problem, when I'm done she looks at it and smiles so I know it's right. She points to the problem I just did and then circles part of the problem I was stuck on.

 **I just simplified this part.** She types of her phone and shows it to me.

"Great I understood that but they don't seem like the same problem and I wouldn't even know how to simplify the rest of it."

Clare writes down another problem and has me solve that one. I finish that and she circles another part of the homework problem I was stuck on and tells me she simplified that part. She shows me how to combine the simplified parts and solve the original problem.

"Wow I actually understood that, thanks for helping I never could have done that or understood it," I grin at her when I'm done and she smiles. Her smile fades when she hears the front door open and she gets up from the table. A tall thin woman with cropped, dark, thin hair and a narrow face walks in. She has thin features and looks at me narrowing her eyes a little making her look just a little evil.

"Hello," the woman I assume to be Clare's mom says. She looks me over and takes notice of the school books and homework on the table. I stand up and extend my hand to her.

"Hello I'm Fitz; I go to school with Clare. Jake had to do something after school and I have a couple of classes with Clare so I volunteered to bring her home," I explain somewhat nervously as I shake the woman's hand.

"Well that was nice of you, thank you for getting her home safely but I have to start dinner now and my husband will be home soon," she tells me making it quite clear that she wants me to leave now.

"Yeah I should go. See you tomorrow Clare," I smile at her gathering my books and she gives me a shy smile back. I get everything in my backpack and wave to Clare before letting myself out. I get in my car and drive to Owen's, football practice got out a little while ago and he should be home or arriving home soon. He pulls up just as I do and nods to me as I get out of the car. "Hey can I crash here tonight, don't feel like going home," I tell him.

"Yeah you know you're always welcome here dude," Owen says as I follow him to the door and we go inside. Owen's mom Nora is in the kitchen making dinner and his dad will be home soon. "Fitz is sleeping over," Owen announces. His younger brother Tris is on the sofa doing homework. Nora hugs us both and we go back to Owen's room. "Drew said you took Clare home," Owen comments sitting on his bed and I sit at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah did you know she can talk? I mean she could talk, Jake told me she could talk when she was little. She used to talk and she just stopped one day. It's called selective mutism and it's usually triggered by some kind of trauma," I enlighten him.

"No kidding?"

"Yeah and I tried to ask her what the trauma was but she just broke down. She crumpled up on the floor and was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. I got her to calm down but obviously something happened, something so bad it stole her voice. I want to know what happened but she won't talk about it, well you know what I mean, I don't think she can even think about it. After she calmed down we had snacks and did homework, she helped me with math, she is way smarter than me she even made it so I could understand the math problem. Things were going pretty well and then her mom came home, she didn't look happy to see me at all. She was polite and all but I don't know something was weird. Jake did say she's never had friends before and we didn't know he had a sister so I'm pretty sure no one has been to their house before."

"No friends? So what else did Jake tell you about her?"

 **(CLARE)**

"I'm going to make dinner Clare please clean up your stuff and go to your room," Mom tells me as soon as Fitz leaves.

I gather my things and go up to my room. I get out my laptop doing some things on it until there's a knock on my door. It opens a second later and Jake walks in with two plates of dinner. One's for him, we eat in our rooms all the time we almost never eat at the table, we almost never eat together and we never have. I didn't even know family dinners around the table were a thing people did until I saw it on TV. Usually Jake eats in his room but tonight he closes the door and sits at the foot of my bed.

"So Fitz got you home okay?" Jake states more than asks and I nod. "Mom said he stuck around to do homework?"

I stop eating and grab my phone from my bedside table to type a response. **Yeah he needed help with math. He's nice.**

"Yeah he actually is nice and I think he likes you," Jake smiles and I furrow my eyebrows at him. "I mean he has crush on you," Jake tells me and I shake my head. "Yeah he does I can tell. It was bound to happen you're pretty, boys are going to like you. Your beauty was just wasted at that old school like everything else," Jake says and I bite my lip.

 **Fitz said you were helping Katie. Who's Katie?**

"A girl at the school, I have a class with her and we have the same spare period. She's nice and pretty and gets really good grades. I met her little sister while I was at her house she's some musical genius. And Katie's like this sports star she's really good at soccer, she's got all these awards in her room."

 **Sounds like you have a crush too.**

"Yeah I guess I do. So you made some friends today I saw. Making friends on the first day can be really hard especially with your…well because you can't talk."

 **I like Adam. Him and Drew are like us. They're parents got married when they were young and the other parent adopted them.**

"Yeah that makes sense I knew they couldn't be related by blood but I hadn't really thought about it before. What about everyone else? Did anyone else give you trouble besides Steve and his friend?"

 **No everyone else was pretty nice.**

We finish eating and take our plates down to the sink. Mom and Dad are down here watching a movie. Dad pauses the movie and they look over at us.

"Mom tells me there was a boy here," Dad comments in a tone I've never heard before as he and Mom get off the sofa.

"They were doing homework Dad, Fitz is a good guy. He brought her home and they did homework," Jake says standing up for me and I smile at him.

"I'm not sure this school was the best idea you're already bringing boys home," Mom remarks.

 **My old school was terrible.** I write on the chalkboard we keep in the kitchen so I can communicate. They're stashed all over the house.

"You didn't bring people over from your old school," Mom replies.

"She's never had friends before; she has friends now she made friends today. She's a normal kid leading a normal life isn't that a good thing? She's not a freak, she was being treated like a freak at Layton and she didn't belong there and everyone thought so. She belongs at DeGrassi, she made friends and she did great in all of her classes," Jake says in my defense. He's never stuck up for me like this and I'm surprised that he is now. He didn't exactly want me at DeGrassi with him when the idea was first proposed.

"I'm just concerned about her bringing boys home. You know what teenage boys are like, how they can manipulate girls into things. She can't scream out if he tries something," Mom argues.

"She's not stupid Mom or helpless and Fitz wouldn't do that. If someone did try to hurt her like that she'd fight back. You can't keep her sheltered and locked up in the house."

"We just think the new school might be too much for her. She's not normal and she is different than the other kids," Dad says.

 **I want to go to DeGrassi. I like it there. People are nice. I made good friends and I'm learning stuff I'd never have learned at Layton.**

"We just want you to be careful; your mutism makes you different."

 **The friends I made today don't care that I'm mute. The kids that do care will never be my friends anyway.**

I slam the chalkboard down on the counter and run up to my room. I get on my bed and curl up, tears welling in my eyes but before they break free Jake comes in the room.

"Don't worry about it you'll stay at DeGrassi. They're being stupid," Jake assures me.

 **They hate me.**

"No they don't hate you. They're just worried about stupid stuff forget it."

 **Thanks for sticking up for me. I didn't think you wanted me at DeGrassi. I don't mean to be a burden.**

"You're not Clare and you shouldn't talk like that. I'm sorry. I should have insisted that you get out of that school a lot sooner. I knew you didn't belong at Layton. Telling Fitz today about your selective mutism and that you didn't belong at Layton it made me realize a few things. I guess I haven't been the best brother. I'm sorry I never told anyone about you, I just didn't know how to explain it, that you're mute not that I have a sister that goes to another school or did. You were a lot happier today than I've seen maybe ever; I'm not going to let them transfer you. In a few days they'll go back to ignoring us and become wrapped in their lives again," Jake tells me and I smile. "I need to finish some homework you okay?"

I nod and Jake grins. He leaves my room and I hear him in his. I realize now that my parents never wanted me at a normal school; they never wanted me to make friends. If they hadn't been pressured to take me out of Layton I'm sure I'd still be there.

 **(FITZ)**

"So you going to ask Clare out?" Owen questions as we get ready for school Tuesday morning.

"I just met her yesterday and she's very shy, she's never even had friends before us. I don't think asking her on a date after knowing her only 24 hours is a good idea," I reply.

"You could ask her to hang out; we could hang out as a group on Saturday or something. Or Friday after school even since there's no practice, I'm sure the Torres brothers wouldn't mind having a movie night at their place," Owen says.

"Now that's a good idea," I grin.

We finish getting ready for school and take our separate cars. I could ride with him; honestly I'll probably be back here tonight. But Owen has practice after school and I don't want to hang out at the school while he's at practice. My car belonged to my grandfather, it's pretty old and kind of a piece of crap but it's mine, it's the only thing I inherited after his death and it drives Steve nuts that I have a car and he doesn't. Owen and I arrive at school at the same time and park next to each other. We go inside to our lockers and after stashing some books we go out to the front to wait for our friends. Drew and Adam arrive first and hang out with us and a few minutes later Jake and Clare arrive. They walk up the steps and come inside, I smile at Clare as soon as I see her and she smiles back. Jake puts his hand on her shoulder and they walk over to us.

"Hi guys, hey Fitz thanks for taking Clare home yesterday," Jake says to me.

"It was no trouble and she helped me with my math anyway," I grin.

"I assume she'll be safe if I leave her with you guys?"

"Yeah we'll take care of her, we have homeroom together," I smile.

"Text me if you need me otherwise I'll see you after school okay?" Jake says to her and she nods. Almost as soon as Jake leaves Bianca comes over and greets Drew with a kiss.

"Morning everyone," Bianca grins when she tears her lips from Drew.

We all hang out in the hall until the bell rings and then Clare, Adam and I walk to class. Since Clare was singled out in all of her classes yesterday as the new mute girl almost everyone looks at her when they come into class. She looks uncomfortable when the first couple of people do it. After that Adam and I talk to her and distract her from everyone else. Miss Oh never calls on her but she doesn't ask many questions of class either. Mostly we watch a presentation and she talks about media awareness.

"We have math next we'll see you at lunch," Adam says when walk out of media studies. I nod and walk to vehicle maintenance class, Owen's in class already and Drew walks in just after me.

"Hey Drew we were thinking a movie night at your house Friday night. Us, Bianca, Adam of course and Clare," Owen tells Drew while we wait for class to begin.

"Yeah cool, my parents have some party that night so we'd have the house to ourselves most of the night," Drew grins.

After auto shop is lunch, we find Adam and Clare at their lockers and Bianca finds us. Everyone but Bianca brought lunch so Drew gives her some money to get something from the caf. We go out to the picnic tables and sit down.

"We're having a movie night at our place Friday night and you're all invited," Drew announces.

"We are?" Adam asks.

"Yeah we are," Drew replies.

 **What's a movie night?** Clare types on her phone but only Adam and I see it since we're on either side of her.

"Everyone would hang out at our place and watch movies. We eat popcorn, junk food, order pizza, it's fun. You should come," Adam tells her.

 **I'm not sure my mom will let me.**

"Well we could talk to Jake right? Maybe he can convince your parents," I speak up.

 **I guess it's worth try.** Clare types but she doesn't look like she thinks it will work.

"Good we can find him after we eat," I smile.

We finish eating, talking mostly about movie night on Friday and classes today. Not that Clare talks of course; she doesn't even really type anything on her phone. She mostly just sits and watches us. When we're done eating we all go inside and look for Jake, we find him in the hall with Katie.

"Hey Jake," I call to him and he looks over.

"Is everything okay?" He questions.

"Yeah everything's fine," I nod and he looks over at Katie.

"Katie my sister Clare," he introduces the two and Katie smiles, "I think you know everyone else."

"I'll let you guys talk, see you later Jake," she says and waves to us.

"What's up?" Jake asks.

 **Adam and Drew are having a movie night on Friday and I want to go but Mom will never let me.**

"We'll all be there, she'll be safe with us and I can pick her up and bring her home," I assure Jake.

"It'll just be us watching movies in our basement and hanging out. We'll head over right after school and probably watch movies until about ten," Adam adds.

"Don't worry about it I'll think of something to tell mom, they usually have plans Friday night anyway," Jake tells her and Clare smiles.

"Thanks Jake I promise to take good care of her."

"Yeah I know you will," Jake says and waves before walking to class.

"See problem solved now you can come to movie night," I grin at Clare and she smiles back.

We go to our lockers and get our books; since we all have the same class next we just go there. Eli's in the classroom already too and he starts talking to Adam about the play he wants to do. We watch a short slideshow in photography class and then the teacher pairs us off and gives us each a camera sending us out to the school grounds to take nature shots. Clare is paired with Adam and I get paired with Bianca, Drew is paired with Owen but the six of us stick close together anyway and when Clare's not looking I snap a couple pictures of her. At least until Bianca hits my arm. We all had half an hour to take nature shots and then we all go inside. We're told we'll develop the pictures tomorrow and spend the rest of the class watching a slide show of different types of photographs and talking about them.

When the bell rings Clare walks with Adam to their geography class and Drew and I walk to math class dropping our homework on the teacher's desk as we walk in. Jake comes in a couple minutes later dropping his homework on the teacher's desk like everyone else. The teacher puts some problems on the board and has us work on them while he looks at our homework from last night.

"Fitz can I see you a minute?" Mr. Armstrong requests so I go over to his desk. "This extra paper simplifying the problem did you do this?"

"Uh no sir," I admit sheepishly as I scratch the back of my head. "Clare simplified it and I solved it after she simplified it and explained it to me."

"Clare?"

"Clare Martin, Jake's sister," I explain and see Jake look up from the corner of my eye.

"The mute girl explained the problem to you?"

"Well not by talking but yeah, I didn't understand it at all until she simplified it for me. Am I in trouble?"

"No not at all Fitz you got the problem right and there's no shame in getting help when you don't understand something. Clare is very bright she's in my second period math class. In fact she seems to be at a more advanced place than any of the students in that class. I'll need to talk to Mr. Simpson and Miss Sauve about it but how would you feel about getting some tutoring help from Clare?"

"Yeah I think that would be great. I never would have understood the problem if not for her," I reply with a grin and then look over at Jake sort of asking his permission. Jake grins and nods a little so I smile back.

"Good I'll speak with them after school, you can sit down again," Armstrong tells me.

"Do you think she'll do it?" I ask Jake as I sit back at my desk.

"Yeah I'm sure she will," Jake replies and I grin.

When class lets out Drew and I walk out together, he leaves for football practice and I walk out to my car. I hope Clare says yes to tutoring, not just because no one's ever explained math to me before but it means I can spend more time with her. And maybe one day she'll trust me enough to tell me what happened that was so awful she hasn't been able to talk since.

 **Update next Sunday will begin with the next day at school and include movie night at the Torres house.**


	3. Out of a Dream

**Be sure to check out the DeGrassi Saviors website. I posted the November and December calendars. November is one shot month, lots and lots and lots of one shots! December is short story month 3 chapters of each short story that will be running at the time.**

 **Ch. 3 Out of a Dream**

 **(CLARE)**

…" _Mommy? Mommy? What was that noise?" I call walking the long hallway to my parent's room. I reach up and turn the handle and the door creaks open slowly before a wave of blood crashes out and covers me, drenching me in blood. I begin to drown in the lake of blood I now find myself in. I try to scream out but I can't. My mouth opens and I try to scream for help but no sound comes out I'm being choked by the blood. I'm getting pulled down, the blood covers my mouth and I can't breathe…_

I sit up rapidly panting hard, tears race down my cheeks, I'm sweating and shaking. I get up to go to the washroom and I'm still shaking. Leaning on the washroom sink I look in the mirror but the haunting image of the dream comes back. All I see is blood everywhere and I start to collapse.

"Clare?" Jake questions catching me by the arms, I turn to my brother and sob against his chest. "Another nightmare?" He asks and I nod. "Come on let's get you back to bed," Jake says taking my hand. He takes me back to my room and tucks me into bed. "It was just a dream, you're safe now. Do you want to tell me what the dream was about?"

I grab the chalkboard from the spot next to my bed. **Lots of blood** I write and Jake looks at it.

"It was just a dream, you're safe and no one is bleeding," Jake assures me and I nod but there's still tears in my eyes. "I wish you could talk to me sis, tell me what happened, what you dreamed of," Jake comments brushing a curl behind my ear.

I bite my lip and look down ashamed and fresh tears come from my eyes.

"No don't cry it's okay, if you never talk again it's okay. Don't think about the dream, don't think about anyth…" Jake stops talking when we hear our parent's bedroom door open.

"What are you two doing up so late?" Mom asks.

"Clare had a bad dream," he tells her as Glen appears behind her.

"Do we need to call the psychologist again?" Glen questions and I shake my head.

"She's not crazy she just had a bad dream," Jake says in my defense.

"Get to bed we all have to be up in a few hours. Clare this dream doesn't have anything to do with your new school does it?" Mom inquires and I shake my head. Mom gives me another look and they go back to their room.

I erase the blackboard to write something else. **I think they'll do anything to take me out of DeGrassi. They don't want me to be happy or have friends.**

"I won't let them take you out of DeGrassi. Like I said give it a few days and they'll become wrapped in their own lives again. Can you get to sleep?"

I nod and Jake tousles my hair before leaving my room. The door closes and it's dark now, I sink down in my bed trying to get to sleep. At first I can't get the dream from my mind but then I think about DeGrassi, about my classes, my friends and most of all about Fitz. The last thing I see before falling asleep again is his grin and I'm able to sleep the rest of the night. I wake to my alarm the next morning and get ready for school. Dad is already gone and Mom is grabbing her coffee when we come down but seems to leave as soon as she can. Jake drives us to school and we walk in together, I see Adam on the steps with Drew and I look at Jake.

"Text me if you need me but you don't need my permission to go hang out with your friends," Jake responds with a grin. I smile at him and walk over to Drew and Adam, Jake nods to them as he walks up the steps and into school.

"Good morning Clare," Adam grins.

"Hi Clare," Drew smiles and I wave.

I stay with them on the steps and Adam talks about Eli's play. Bianca arrives and comes over greeting Drew with a kiss before saying hello to me and Adam. Owen is next to arrive and he comes with Fitz. Everyone says hello, well I just wave, and then we go inside to go to our lockers.

"Clare can I see you a moment?" Miss Sauve requests.

"We'll see you in class," Fitz tells me and I go with Miss Sauve to Principal Simpson's office where I find him and Mr. Armstrong.

 **Am I in trouble?** I type on my phone and show it to Mr. Simpson.

"Not at all Clare actually you're doing so well in Mr. Armstrong's class and Fitz told us how you helped him with his math homework," Simpson says and I type on my phone again.

 **He was having trouble understanding it I didn't do the problem for him.**

"We know Fitz explained that you helped him. He told me he didn't understand at all until you helped him. Fitz tries but he doesn't always understand and you found a way to simplify it for him. We were hoping that you could tutor him in math; you seem to know how to make him understand. We know you can't talk but you were able to help him and he could really use it," Mr. Armstrong tells me.

"It would be good for you as well Clare, I know you're friends with Fitz and I think this would do you good. Helping another student will probably give you some confidence," Miss Sauve encourages.

 **I'll be happy to help Fitz.**

"Great, you can set the tutoring up with him and any schedule you like as long as he's working with the current curriculum," Mr. Armstrong tells me.

I nod and smile, Simpson says I can go and I leave his office walking to my locker. I get my book just as the bell rings and run to class. I make it before the late bell and sit at my desk. Fitz and Adam smile at me as Miss Oh begins class.

"What did Miss Sauve want?" Adam asks when class is over and we're walking out.

 **I met with her, Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Simpson they asked me to tutor Fitz in math.** I type on my phone showing it to Adam and then Fitz.

"Mr. Armstrong asked me about it yesterday is it okay? You really did help me understand the math homework," Fitz comments.

 **Yes I told them I'd be happy to help. We can talk about it at lunch.**

Fitz grins walking off to class and Adam and I walk to math. Nothing exciting happens in math, I've already done most of this and I find the class easy. Mr. Armstrong seems to realize this as he gives me harder problems and tells me I can also use the period to work on lessons for Fitz's tutoring. When the bell rings for lunch Adam and I walk out together and go to our lockers. It's only now that I realize Jake and I didn't bring any lunch, Mom didn't have one packed because she left as soon as she could, and neither Jake nor I thought of it this morning. I get out my phone to start texting Jake but someone calls my name. I look over to see Fitz coming with Owen, Drew and Bianca.

"Jake said you didn't have lunch he gave me money to buy you lunch at the caf. I also told him you were going to tutor me," Fitz says.

"I'm getting Bianca lunch too you can come with us," Drew speaks up.

"Adam and I will go get a picnic table before they're all full," Owen tells us.

Fitz puts his hand at my back and we follow Drew and Bianca to the caf. I see Jake at the end of the line with a piled high with food. He sees me and smiles but he knows I'm with friends and he doesn't need to hover around me the way Mom and Dad do whenever other people are around. We go through the line and I pick out what I want to eat. You can't take trays outside but I get a sandwich, chips and water. Fitz pays and then runs over to give the change to Jake while Drew buys Bianca's lunch. Fitz carries my lunch outside and we sit with Owen and Adam at the picnic table.

 **If I'm going to tutor you we should have some sort of schedule.** I type on my phone and show it to Fitz.

"We could do it afterschool, maybe lunch sometimes but we only get 45 minutes for lunch and neither of us has a spare period. I can come over after school, take you home and we can do it there."

 **My parents don't like us to have people over.**

"Ya I did get that impression when I took you home Monday. Well my house sucks and I don't want you anywhere near Steve or my stepdad. But there's always the library," Fitz says.

"You can do it at my place after school, you practically live there anyway Fitz," Owen says.

"You could come to our place too, Mom won't mind and Jake can pick you up or Fitz could take you home after," Adam offers.

 **Okay every day after school then at Owen's or Adam's.**

"Good I'll take you to Owen's after school if you're okay with starting today," Fitz remarks and I nod.

We finish lunch but stay outside until just before the bell. Then we go in to our lockers and after getting our backpacks we all go to photography class.

"Today class we will develop the photos you took yesterday, get into your pairs from yesterday please," Mr. Haas tells us. I was paired with Adam and Mr. Haas hands us an envelope. "I've done all the chemical washes and pre-developing already, all of which you will learn but for now I want you to experience seeing your pictures develop and choosing which pictures you want to develop. What you have are your negatives, I have only cut them I have not examined them so partners go to the light tables in the back of the room to examine your negatives."

Mr. Haas tells us how to examine the negatives for dust and scratches and what a good negative looks like. First we make contact sheets in the dark room and look at the pictures; we can all develop up to ten pictures. We choose a few prints to enlarge to 3X5 and we can all choose 1 picture to enlarge to 8X10. We only have time to work on the 8X10 today, we enlarge and develop and hang them to dry, we look around the room at the pictures. Adam and I chose a picture of the trees bordering the school with the leaves blowing. Everyone else has pictures of flowers or grass or trees. Everyone except Fitz and Bianca they have a picture of me. It's me in profile with a few wisps of hair in my face.

"Nice picture Fitz," Adam grins and I smile at Fitz.

"Alright the bell will be ringing soon; we will work on the remaining pictures the rest of this week. Everyone leave the dark room carefully and gather your stuff before the bell," Mr. Haas tells us.

We grab our stuff and walk out of the room I wave to Fitz, Owen, Drew and Bianca as Adam and I turn the corner to walk to our last class of the day. The class is good but I can't stop thinking of the picture Fitz took of me. When class is over I walk out with Adam, Alli, Jenna, K.C. and Dave.

"Hey you ready to go? Jake knows we're going to Owen's he said to text him when you were ready to be picked up," Fitz tells me walking over to us and I nod.

"See you tomorrow Clare," Adam says and I smile.

I wave to everyone and walk out with Fitz to his car and he drives us to Owen's house. Fitz takes a spare key and opens the front door. I feel a little funny being in a house that doesn't belong to either of us but Owen did say we could be here and he said Fitz practically lives here so it must be okay.

"You want a snack or something to drink?" Fitz asks and I nod.

He gets out some chips putting them in a bowl and gets a couple cans of soda. We sit at the table and he gets out his math book and homework.

 **That was a nice picture of me you took but wasn't the assignment to take pictures of nature?**

"You were the prettiest thing I saw in the schoolyard," Fitz replies with a grin. I smile and bite the corner of my lip feeling my cheeks flush.

I look at his homework and simplify the first few problems for him in steps. I have him solve the steps and have him put the steps together to solve the problems. I'll have to figure out a way to explain how I simplify the parts of the problem to begin with. However that would be a lot to type out on my phone or write down and that could end up confusing him even more, so for now this will do. We get through the first few problems before the front door opens and a young boy walks in.

"Hi Fitz and pretty girl I don't know," he says.

"Hey Tris, this is Clare, she's tutoring me in math. Tristan is Owen's little brother," Fitz tells me and I wave hello with a smile. "Clare's mute she doesn't talk," Fitz explains.

"Oh, well hi make yourself at home. Mom will be here soon," Tris replies.

He grabs some snacks from the fridge and then he goes down the hall to his room I suppose. Fitz and I get to work again doing a couple more problems before the front door opens once more and a woman walks in. She has long dark hair and deep blue eyes like Owen.

"Hi Nora, Clare this is Nora, Owen and Tristan's mom. Nora this is Clare, she just started at DeGrassi and she's tutoring me in math. She's mute, she doesn't talk but she's very nice and really good at math," Fitz introduces us.

"Hello Clare it's nice to meet you and very good that you're helping Fitz with math I know he struggles with it. Would you like to stay for dinner?" Nora offers.

 **I would but I have to get home as soon as I'm done helping Fitz.** I type out and show it to her.

"Well another time then perhaps," Nora smiles and I nod.

It takes another hour to help Fitz with the rest of his math homework. When we're done I send a text to Jake to pick me up.

"Thanks Clare I wouldn't understand any of this if not for you," Fitz comments while I gather my stuff to go.

 **I'm happy to.**

Fitz smiles and the front door opens, Owen walks in followed by Jake.

"See you tomorrow Clare," Owen says and I wave to him.

Jake says goodbye for us and we go out to his truck, "So how was tutoring?" Jake asks when we're in the truck on the way home and I reply with a smile.

 **(FITZ)**

"Thanks Clare it makes sense when you show me otherwise it might as well be in Sanskrit or cuneiform. You don't have to text Jake I can drop you at home," I offer.

It's Thursday afternoon and we were at the Torres house so Clare could tutor me again like she had yesterday. Mr. Armstrong had been really impressed with my homework from Wednesday and said I got everything right and he could see that I was really understanding it. I thought it would be good for us to work at the Torres house today so Clare could meet Audra, plus she and Adam have all their classes together so they could do homework together while I was figuring out the simplified math she'd done for me.

Clare nods in response to my offer to take her home. We say goodbye to Adam and go out to my car so I can drive her home. I park in front of her house and start to open my door to walk her to the front door but she puts her hand on my arm and shakes her head.

"Your parents really don't like people at the house do they?" I comment and Clare shakes her head again. "Okay well thanks for the help, don't forget tomorrow is movie night at Adam's," I tell her.

 **I know Jake told Mom and Dad we had a school function. Thanks for the ride home I'll see you tomorrow.**

While I read what she's typed on her phone she kisses my cheek very quickly then takes her phone back and gets out of the car. I watch her until she's inside and then I drive home, Mom's home cooking dinner my stepdad will get home from work anytime and Steve could be anywhere probably drunk or stoned.

"Hey Ma," I smile kissing her cheek.

"Hi Honey your dinner is on the stove, take some vegetables," Mom tells me.

Mac and cheese from a box is Mom's idea of a gourmet dinner for me and Steve. My stepdad is a meat and potatoes guy and Mom usually makes him a steak or something for dinner and I have no idea what she eats. I tend to stay in my room when I'm home, a room I have to share with Steve but it's better than being anywhere near my stepdad.

The dinner is cold now but I still put some in a bowl, I take a carrot from the fridge and go up to my room. I eat and finish what little homework I have left, I'm done with dinner and with homework when Steve comes in the room.

"Writing a love letter to your mute girlfriend?" Steve teases.

"Shut up," I respond.

"A girl that can't speak is like the perfect girlfriend she can't nag you," Steve grins flopping down on his bed.

"Shut. Up. Steve," I growl each word slowly. "She's not my girlfriend I've only known her for four days but you had better stay the fuck away from her."

"Why would I stay away from her? I bet I can make her scream, I want to hear scream when I fu…"

"SHUT UP!" I cut him off leaping up and punching him in the face.

He hits me in the face and grabs my shoulders pushing me off of him and I fall to the floor. Steve jumps up trying to get on top of me but I kick him and he falls back to his bed. I stand up grabbing his shirt and get ready to hit him again when our door is opened.

"WHAT IN THE GODDAMN FUCKING HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?" My stepdad yells storming in. "Stop fucking fighting, the both of you. Couple of idiots for kids. Don't you fucking touch my son you no good punk you're lucky I don't throw your ass in juvie," he growls grabbing the back of my shirt and shoving me into the dresser that separates our two beds. I bang into it with the side of my face, my stepdad leaves the room and Steve is laughing.

I ignore him and go downstairs for some ice. When I get back to our room Steve is smoking a joint and he just laughs at me again. He seems to attempt to do his homework and falls asleep. I'm fairly sore in the morning and sporting a black eye and a bruise at the corner of my mouth to my chin, I barely avoided getting a fat lip as well. Steve is still sleeping and I'm not about to wake him up, I change for school and get ready leaving through the back getting in my car to drive to school. I stop at The Dot for breakfast and Spinner is working.

"I hope you gave as good as you got," Spinner remarks upon seeing my face.

"Yeah I did," I nod.

I order coffee and get a donut for breakfast then drive down the street to school. It's fairly early still and very few people are here but there was a football practice this morning because I see the football team here.

"What happened to you?" Drew asks.

"Steve or your stepdad?" Owen questions.

"Both, but I got Steve pretty good too," I reply.

"You can crash at our place tonight. After movie night since you'll be there anyway," Drew offers.

"Thanks I did promise to take Clare home after movie night though," I remind him.

"I think we should get you some ice for those bruises," Owen comments as we walk into school.

We go to the nurse and get a couple of ice packs but I only tell her that I was in a fight yesterday. We sit in the hall while I hold the ice packs to my face. Adam arrives and then Bianca and I tell them I got in a fight with Steve. When we go to our lockers we see Clare with Jake at his locker, she waves to us with a smile but her smile fades as I get closer and she sees the bruises on my face. She walks over reaching up and touching my cheek where I'm bruised.

"I'm okay don't worry about it," I tell her with an assuring smile and she smiles back looking over her shoulder at Jake walks over.

"You okay Fitz?" Jake questions.

"Yeah I'm fine my stepbrother was being an a…" I stop myself before swearing in front of Clare, "a jerk and we were fighting and then my stepdad got involved."

Jake just nods but Clare gives me an even more worried look. I give her a grin so she knows I'm okay.

"Our parents are going to a party tonight but they'll be home before midnight so make sure she's home before then, no later than 11:30," Jake instructs me.

"Don't worry Mom will make the girls go home by eleven anyway," Drew says.

"Okay good, I'll see you tonight then unless you need me for something. I doubt it though you've got lots of friends now," Jake smiles. Clare nods and Jake walks off.

"You ready for movie night tonight?" I ask Clare and she nods with an excited smile.

"We'll all head to my house straight after school," Adam tells her.

When the bell rings I walk to class with Adam and Clare. It's a pretty average Friday as everyone is anxious to get to the weekend. Before I leave math at the end of the day Mr. Armstrong asks to speak to me.

"Yes Sir?"

"I just wanted to say that you've been doing really well. I can already see a marked improvement thanks to Clare's tutelage so keep it up."

"I will Sir thank you," I grin and leave the room. Drew is waiting for me just outside of the classroom and we find everyone else near the front of school. "Mr. Armstrong said I'm doing really well and I have you to thank for that," I say to Clare and she grins.

"I think you should take Clare and I'll take everyone else since six people won't fit in one car. Plus we'll probably both need our cars," Owen comments. I know what he's doing, I think Clare does too but she just smiles and we walk to my car and I follow Owen to the Torres house. We set our stuff down and the brothers start setting out snacks while Bianca closes the curtains.

"What should we watch?" Adam asks.

"Something scary," Bianca says.

Drew looks at the DVDs and picks one out while Adam takes Clare to the sofa. I sit on the other side of Clare and Drew starts the movie. Creepy music starts up and the camera pans through a pleasant looking small town with lots of missing persons flyers. As soon as the credits finish the very first scene is a mom in a kitchen calling to her daughter to get up, but there's no response. Eerie music plays and you know something is going to happen but it's not particularly scary yet. Despite the fact that it's not very scary Clare has gone incredibly tense and she seems to be a little pale. The scene progresses and the mom goes upstairs yelling a little louder for her daughter and getting annoyed but also scared. Clare pulls her legs onto the sofa balling herself up by bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. Adam and I look at her but the others don't notice her reaction to the movie yet. As the scene on screen progresses and the mom walks down a dim hallway and she's only frightened now. The mom on screen approaches her daughter's door and then freezes when she sees blood pooling under the doorway. Clare sees this and jumps up, bounding over the back of the sofa and running from the basement, she flees outside into the daylight.

Everyone else watches her run out the door and they all have puzzled looks on their faces. No one is sure why she reacted that way to the beginning of the movie. I jump up and run after her.

 **Update next Sunday will pick up from right here.**


	4. Lookin Up at the Stars Lookin Down on Me

**Don't forget to check out the DeGrassi Saviors website for daily clues, pictures, updates and my writing calendars through December.**

 **Ch. 4 Lookin' Up at the Stars Lookin' Down on Me**

 **(CLARE)**

"Clare," Fitz calls after me. He catches me on the front lawn and turns me to him. "What's wrong?" He asks and I shake my head. "If you don't like the movie we can change it, we don't have to watch a scary movie," he says and I shake my head again as tears begin to crawl down my cheeks. "I'll make them change the movie," Fitz tells me and I shake my head yet again. More tears come from my eyes, tears of frustration because I can't tell him what's wrong and why I ran out on the movie. "Clare what's wrong? Please you can talk to me," he begs.

My phone is still in the house and I don't have a chalkboard or pad of paper, it's too dark for him to see anything anyway. I can't talk and I need a way to communicate so I do the only thing I can think of, I take his hand and hold it in my hand with his palm up. Using my index finger I begin writing on his palm.

N-O-T T-H-E M-O-V-I-E

"Not the movie, it wasn't the movie that scared you?"

I shake my head.

"Okay then why'd you run out?"

B-A-D D-R-E-A-M

"Bad dream? You had a bad dream?" He asks and I nod. "Did you have a bad dream last night?" Fitz questions and I nod again. "Did the movie remind you of the dream?" Fitz queries and I nod once more. "If you want them to change the movie we can watch something else but you don't have to be scared of the movie. If there's a scene you don't like in the movie you can hide your head against my arm. I'll even hold you if you want," he offers cautiously.

I look at him and smile a little. Taking a deep breath I look up at the stars in the sky thinking about what I want to do. After a moment I use my finger to write on his hand again.

H-O-L-D M-E

"Of course, I'll happily hold you, any time you're scared," he assures me.

The way he says it, and the way he looks at me when he does, I know he's not just talking about tonight and the movie and it makes me smile. I still have the back of his hand in mine and he turns his hand to hold mine, I smile a litter bigger and then we walk back into the basement. The movie is paused and everyone is talking but they cease immediately when I come in and they all look over at us.

"Are you okay? We can change the movie," Adam says and I shake my head.

"She's alright, the movie just reminded her of a bad dream she had last night. She's okay to watch the rest of the movie," Fitz says then looks at me and I nod.

We sit down again next to Adam and the movie comes back on, I get ready to hide my head but it's past the scary part now and it's just some kids at a high school. When it does start to get scary I hide my head on Fitz's arm. He moves his arm putting it around me and I hide my head on his chest. I do feel better when Fitz is holding me, there is something very comforting about being in his arms and the movie no longer bothers me. It doesn't evoke memories either, with my head against Fitz's chest I smell his scent and he's all I think about.

"We should watch a comedy now," Adam comments when the movie is over.

"Let's order pizza first," Drew says.

Drew places a pizza order and Adam picks out another movie, Bianca goes upstairs for drinks and Fitz gets up to use the washroom. I sit on the sofa and look at my hands.

"You okay?" Owen asks and I grab my phone from my purse to type on it.

 **I feel bad for ruining movie night.**

"You didn't, everyone gets scared of something and everyone has bad dreams. You didn't ruin anything so don't worry about it," Owen assures me and I give him a smile.

Adam puts the next movie on and part way into it the doorbell rings and the brothers go upstairs to get the pizza. I like the second movie much better it's funny and I laugh with my new friends while eating pizza. I've never done anything like this before. We had a couple parties at Layton where we'd watch a movie and have pizza but it was nothing like this. The pizza was cheap and not very good, the movie was always a cartoon, not even a good cartoon, a generic fairy tale cartoon that was not entertaining. Even though the first movie was scary, and recalled my dream and bad memories, it was still enjoyable and I felt safe with Fitz holding me and that was very enjoyable. I've never had friends like this, never been able to do this or even watch movies that I like. My family and I never go to movies, Jake and I have watched a few at home but that was so much different.

"I promised Jake I'd get you home so we should go. I'll be back after I take Clare home," Fitz says when the third movie ends.

"See you later Clare," Adam smiles.

 **I had fun thanks for inviting me, see everyone on Monday.** I type it on my phone and Fitz reads it to them. Everyone says goodbye and waves and I walk out to Fitz's car with his hand at my back the whole time. We get to my house in a few minutes and I get my phone out again. **Tonight was wonderful thank you. I've never done that.**

"Yeah but you have friends now, we'll do that a lot more movie nights and much more with our friends," Fitz says and I grin which makes him grin. "I like you Clare, I really like you as more than just a friend and I'd like to take you on a date tomorrow. If you want to go?"

 **I do, very much but my parents would never let me.**

"What about Jake? He covered for you tonight maybe he could cover for you again. I can talk to him if you want?"

 **Let me talk to him first. I'll text you later after I talk to him. Thanks for tonight.**

Fitz smiles and I get out of the car walking to my door. Mom and Dad are still out but Jake is home and I wave to him when I come in.

"How was movie night?" Jake asks following me up to my room.

I wait until I'm in my room with the lights on and I have the chalkboard by my bed to reply. **It was great. I had fun. I feel safe with Fitz and I like him.**

"I'm glad, on all accounts. You deserve it," Jake smiles.

 **Thanks. Fitz wants to take me on a date tomorrow.**

"You don't look happy about that," Jake comments and then after a second he nods as he understands. "You're worried about Mom and Dad," Jake says and I nod. "Don't worry I'll think of something, I'm going out with Katie tomorrow I'll tell Mom and Dad you're coming with me Fitz can pick you up from there at six. Just make sure Fitz gets you back to me at Katie's place by ten okay?"

I nod with an excited smile and kiss my brother's cheek. He grins and leaves my room and I get out my phone to text Fitz.

 **Clare: Jake has a plan pick me up from Katie's house tomorrow at six. I have to be back by ten.**

 **Fitz: Great I'll need Katie's address but I'll see you tomorrow night.**

I smile and go into Jake's room showing him the last text from Fitz.

"Give me his number and I'll send him Katie's address," Jake says. Jake hands me his phone and I put in Fitz's number so Jake can send Fitz Katie's address.

 **Tell me about Fitz.** I type on my phone after he sends the text to Fitz.

"I don't know that much about him really. He doesn't have a very good reputation, kind of a bully. After seeing him with you I'm beginning to think it was all just talk and knowing what I do about his stepbrother I can see why. He seems like a good guy, he's definitely good with you and as long he's good to you it doesn't matter what his reputation is," Jake replies and I smile.

 **He is. He's very good to me.** I type on my phone and Jake smiles when he reads it but then we hear the front door open.

"That's Mom and Dad you should start getting ready for bed and I'll go talk to them about tomorrow night," Jake tells me.

I nod and leave his room for the washroom and begin getting ready for bed. I'm very excited for tomorrow night, my first date and I can't wait for it.

 **(FITZ)**

I've been parked at Katie's house for about ten minutes now, I wanted to be sure I was here as soon as Jake and Clare were here. I see Jake park in front of me and I get out walking to Jake's car and Clare gets out of the car.

"Hey Fitz, make sure she's back at ten I told our parents we'd be home by 10:30," Jake tells me.

"I promise, I'll have her back here on time, early even and I'll take good care of her," I assure him.

"Have fun," Jake says to his sister and she smiles.

Clare and I walk to my car and I open the car door to get in. I wasn't sure what to do on a date with a girl that won't talk. I talked to Owen, Drew and Adam about it last night. We decided that somewhere public might be too much for her given her limited social interaction so far. We thought something quiet at home would be good but we can't go to my house and we can't go to her house but Owen offered his house. Tris was going to his best friends, Owen is going out with Julian and a few of the other guys on the football team and his parents were out on a date so Clare and I would be alone.

 **Our date is at Owen's house?** Clare types on her phone when I park.

"No one is home, everybody is out and I thought it was best if we didn't go out. I figured our first date should be something calm, especially since you've never been on one before."

I take her hand and we walk to the front door, I unlock it with my key and we go in. I bring her out to the back yard; Owen helped me set up a sheet to project the movie onto. We put down a blanket and some cushions so we'll be comfortable.

 **It's beautiful.**

"Sit down on the blanket, I picked up dinner earlier but I need to heat it up. I'll be out in a few minutes," I tell her.

She smiles and sits down on the blanket and I go into the kitchen. I picked up dinner from an Italian restaurant close by; the food is good and cheap. I start the oven to get it heating and get some other stuff ready while I wait for the oven to warm up. When it does I set in the lasagna and set a timer on my phone to get the lasagna out so it doesn't burn. I go outside and join Clare on the blanket before starting the movie. I didn't pick a scary movie; I went with a nice family friendly comedy. Clare smiles and kisses my cheek. She leans back and watches the movie, when the timer goes off I tell Clare I'll be right back and go inside. I take out the lasagna and put in the garlic bread; I get us drinks first and take them outside then cut the lasagna and serve it on plates. I take the garlic bread out giving us each a couple of slices and take the plates outside. Clare grins and smells the food; I can tell she's hungry. We eat while watching the movie and Clare looks happy. When the movie is over I turn off the projector and we sit under the stars.

"Do you always write things down or type on your phone when you have something to say?"

 **It's all I can do. I learned a little sign language at Layton but only enough to communicate with some of the other kids and teachers. Mostly fingerspelling and a few basic signs like eat and drink but that only works if other people understand ASL.**

"Spell your name in sign language," I request. I watch her hands as she forms each letter. "Spell mine," I request when she's done. She begins forming the letters for Fitz but stops with the I.

 **Fitz is kind of a funny name why'd your parents name you that?**

"They didn't," I laugh, "I named myself that and make everyone call me Fitz. It's a nickname from my last name which is Fitzgerald. My parents named me Mark but I always hated Mark it sounds stupid."

 **I like Mark it's a good name.** She types on her phone then sets her phone down and spells Mark in sign language before picking her phone up again. **I'll still call you Fitz if you want.**

"I prefer it but I'd be happy to hear you call me anything," I say and she looks down biting her lip. "You don't have to talk it doesn't matter to me. I like you Clare just as you are," I insist to her and she looks up smiling at me. I put my hand out, she puts her hand on mine and I turn them so our fingers are together and then I interlace our fingers. "What do you want to do now? We have more than an hour before I have to get you back," I tell her.

 **I like just sitting here with you under the stars.**

I smile and then still holding her hand I put my arm around her and lean us back to look up at the stars. We don't say anything just stargaze and be together. Clare puts her head on my chest and I grin a little bigger. We stay like that until the alarm goes off on my phone meaning I need to get her back to Jake.

"Time to go," I tell Clare and she makes a pouty frown that makes me smile. "We'll go on another date, next weekend okay. Maybe we can go out after the game next Friday," I comment and she smiles again. We stand up and go back out to my car and I drive back to Katie's. We get out of the car and I walk her to the front door because I don't see Jake outside and I'm not just going to leave Clare.

"Hi Clare, Hey Fitz," Katie nods to us. "Jake will be out in a second he's just in the washroom. You can come in if you want," Katie says and steps aside so we can come in. "This is my younger sister Maya," Katie tells us and Clare and I both wave to the skinny blonde girl and then Jake comes out of the hallway to the kitchen where we're all standing.

"Good you're here, we should probably go. See you Monday," Jake says to Katie before he kisses her. "See you Maya," Jake waves. Clare waves to Maya and Katie and I say goodbye walking out with Jake and Clare.

"I had fun tonight, I'll see you Monday," I say to Clare when we're standing in front of the passenger door of Jake's truck.

Clare smiles, glances at Jake and then grips my jacket standing on her tiptoes and her lips lightly touch to mine in a chaste kiss. She sort of jumps in the truck after that, her cheeks are red, such a light kiss made her blush. I wave to them as they drive away, my lips have the faintest of tingling sensations from Clare's lips still and I smile. Walking to my car I drive to Owen's, I spent most of the week here, except last night when we both slept at the Torres house. I'm not going home, not as long as I can help it and I am sleeping here again tonight but I also have to clean up. By the time I have the backyard cleaned up and I'm working on the kitchen Nora and Darrin are home. They say hello, thank me for cleaning up and go up to their room. I finish cleaning and go into Owen's room.

"Hey how was the date?" Owen asks coming into his room when he gets home.

"Great she loved the movie and picnic in the backyard and when the movie was done we sat under the stars. Thanks for the help."

"No problem, 'bout time you found yourself a nice good girl," Owen grins.

"Now we just got to find you one, you and Adam," I comment.

"Finding me and Adam girls might be an impossible task," Owen quips back and I laugh.

 **(CLARE)**

"So I take it the date went well," Jake remarks as he starts driving us home and I nod. "And you got your first kiss," he grins and I smile biting my lip. Mom and Dad think I was helping Katie plan the homecoming dance and you were helping for extra credit."

I nod but I keep my ecstatic grin on my face until we reach the house and then I wipe it off. If Mom and Dad see me smiling they'll know something is up.

"Did you get lots of work done planning the dance?" Mom asks when we come in.

"Yeah it was productive, Clare's in charge of music," Jake replies.

"Hmm that's nice just don't do anything to strenuous Clare," Dad reamarks.

"Dad she's not sickly she just doesn't talk, aside from that she's perfectly healthy and she'll have fun at the dance which isn't for several weeks anyway," Jake responds gritting his teeth a little.

"Jake your sister has never been to a regular school, she's fragile and we don't want her to do too much. Her condition is exacerbated by stress," Mom says.

Jake looks at them, he's tense and his jaw is tight, he looks like he wants to say something but when Dad cocks his eyebrow at Jake he lets a breath out. Jake looks at me putting his hand on my shoulder and directing me toward the stairs. We go into my room and sit on my bed and Jake puts on some music.

"Forget about them tell me about your date," Jake insits in a low voice.

 **It was very sweet; we had a picnic in Owen's backyard and watched a movie. Then we sat under the stars until it was time to go.**

"Yeah I guess he didn't want to take you to his house. His stepbrother is the biggest ass in the school. I'm surprised Steve hasn't been expelled by now. Well I'm glad you had fun."

 **I did. How was your date with Katie?**

"It was okay. I had a good time with Katie but her sister was there the whole time. Maya's okay it just would have been nicer to be alone with Katie but I did ask her to be my girlfriend and she said yes," Jake grins and I smile. "Don't worry about Mom and Dad they just don't like change. You'll come to homecoming and do anything else you want to do this year I'll make sure of it."

I smile and hug my brother, he says goodnight and leaves my room. When Jake's gone I get ready for bed and then read until I'm tired enough to fall asleep. No nightmare tonight I dream about my friends and about Fitz. I wake up happy on Sunday morning, happy and excited to get to school tomorrow and see Fitz. Mom and Dad are gone somewhere but Jake is eating when I get downstairs, a giant bowl of cereal along with toast, it's actually a light breakfast for him.

"I'm going to meet Katie I'll see you tonight," Jake informs me after he's done with breakfast.

I wave to him and clean up from breakfast. I spend the most of the day as I usually have for as long as I can remember, I spend it alone in my room reading and writing a little. In the late afternoon I go downstairs and eat lunch. Mom and Dad get home while I'm eating and they say hi before they go upstairs. After eating I clean up and go upstairs to my room and I'm surprised to find Mom in my room. She doesn't come in my room ever and especially without me in it, at least she never has before but she's standing in my room holding my phone.

"I was walking past your room and the phone beeped, I was going to bring it to you but then I saw the message," Mom enlightens me in a harsh tone tossing the phone at me. I catch it and look at the text message from Fitz.

 **Fitz: I can't stop thinking about you. I'm actually looking forward to school tomorrow.**

"Boys shouldn't be thinking about you Clare. They only want one thing. Boys will take advantage of a girl like you," Mom says.

I glower at her and walk to my bed getting my chalkboard out. **Fitz isn't like that he's a nice guy and he's good to me. You have no right to look at my phone and my private messages.**

"I am your mother I am protecting you. You know nothing about the world," Mom tells me and I grip the chalkboard tightly getting the slightest urge to smack her with it.

"What's going on?" Dad inquires coming in.

"Clare's getting texts from boys," Mom informs him and then my phone beeps again. I pick it up and look at the text.

 **Fitz: Remember you can talk to me about anything. I'm here whenever you need me.**

Mom grabs the phone and hands it to Dad. She goes red and stiff, she's angry and Dad gets angry when he reads the text. He grips the phone and then tosses it on my desk.

"What does he know Clare? What have you been doing with this boy?" Dad questions walking toward me and I shake my head.

"I don't believe you Clare, I knew this school was a bad idea, communicating with boys and who knows what else."

 **I haven't said anything I don't talk anymore. I haven't said anything since**

I stop writing as my hand begins to shake.

"Nothing made you stop talking you just stopped Clare. You had just turned four and you just stopped talking. You stopped talking because you have nothing to say, to anyone. Ever again," Mom says.

"It's a mental disease maybe you need another trip to the hospital," Dad comments and I shake my head vigorously.

"If I find texts on your phone again from boys I will take you from that school. Are you trying to break up this family? Do you want to live in a foster home?"

I shake my head.

"To school and home," Mom asserts.

 **But I tutor Fitz after school, it's part of school. If you want me to stop you'll have to give the school a reason.**

"I knew that school was a bad idea," Mom grumbles and looks at Dad. "We need to do something about this."

 **Update next Sunday will pick up from about here in Jake's pov and include the next day at school.**


	5. Can You Tell Me What it is You're Afraid

**Don't forget to check out the DeGrassi Saviors website and go to my page for daily pictures and clues, and my writing schedule through December. Also if a chapter will not go up that day for any reason I will post that where the daily clue goes.**

 **Another short one, sorry guys it's been a rather busy weekend.**

 **Ch. 5 Can You Tell Me What it is You're Afraid of?**

 **(JAKE)**

I get home from a date with Katie and find the living room empty. I smell the remnants of Thai food so they got take-out but Mom never did like to cook. I go upstairs and knock on Clare's door.

"It's me I'm coming in," I call to her.

Since she doesn't talk she can't tell us to come in or not to come in, we just warn her that we're coming in before opening the door. If she's changing or something she always locks the door. Usually I find Clare on her bed or at her desk, typically reading or maybe at the computer.

When I open the door tonight however I find her room empty, or so it looks at first, I hear her sobbing. I find her huddled in her closet and sobbing hard. I kneel down and reach out to put a hand on her arm but she flinches away from me.

"Clare what happened? What's wrong?"

She responds by shaking her head vigorously.

"Clare what's the matter? Did Fitz do something?"

She shakes her head again.

"No you weren't even with Fitz today. Clare please tell me what happened," I beg sitting on the floor near her but she curls up even more trying to get away from me. "Are you hurt?" I question and she shakes her head again.

"What's going on?" Mom asks coming in the room and I look over to see Dad standing with her.

"I found her huddled and crying in her closet what the hell happened?"

"You know Clare is emotionally fragile because of her condition Son. Just leave her alone," Dad replies.

"She just wants attention leave her alone and she'll stop," Mom says.

"We're going to bed now I have to be up early," Dad tells me and then they leave Clare's room.

"They're gone please tell me what happened," I request getting up to grab her chalkboard from the spot near her bed. I hold it out to her and she takes it.

 **Go to bed Jake. Leave me alone.**

I look at the chalkboard and sigh. She's obviously not going to tell me what happened but I know that something did, she wouldn't be curled up and sobbing in her closet if everything was fine. I've never seen her like this before, I've seen her cry of course but I've never seen her curled up and hiding in the closet to cry.

"Okay but I'll just be in my room, come get me if you want to talk or anything," I tell her.

She doesn't nod or react in anyway so I reluctantly leave her room. I shower and get ready for bed, we have school tomorrow but I'm up for a while on my laptop. I fall asleep after one in the morning and get woken up a short time later by a hand on my arm. My eyes open and I see a figure shrouded by darkness in my room but I know it's Clare. I sit up and turn on my light, her eyes are red and puffy from crying but she doesn't seem to be hurt, at least not that I can see.

"What's wrong?" I ask grabbing the chalkboard kept by my bed so Clare can write a response.

 **Bad dream.** She writes which isn't what I expecting but I move over and pat the bed next to me so she sits down.

"You want to tell me about it?"

She shakes her head.

"It was just a dream Clare it can't hurt you. You're safe I promise," I assure her and she nods. "Can you get back to sleep?" I ask and she shakes her head. "Let's go watch TV," I suggest and she nods again.

We get up and I put on a robe then we go down to the living room and I put on the TV. I find an old movie and after watching for about an hour Clare begins to fall asleep. I turn the TV off and we go upstairs.

"If you need me again come get me okay?"

Clare nods and then yawns.

"Get to sleep okay we have to be up for school in a couple of hours," I tell her and she rolls to her side to sleep. I turn off her light and go back to my room, I'm exhausted and fall asleep right away waking to my alarm the next morning. I get up and start getting ready for school, when I leave the washroom I go to knock on Clare's door to make sure she's getting ready for school.

"Clare won't be going to school today," Mom's voice says sharply and coldly from her doorway and I look over.

"What are you talking about?"

"She isn't feeling well I already called the school," Mom replies.

"She was fine last night she just had a nightmare."

"When she woke up this morning she complained of bad cramps, she can't go to school today she won't be able to concentrate. She'll rest at home today, you should leave for school I have appointments all day," Mom tells me and walks past me to go downstairs.

I open Clare's door but she's in bed, curled on her side and doesn't look over at me so I close the door again. When I get downstairs Mom is just leaving, I grab some breakfast and peek in at Clare again before leaving. She's still curled on her side under the covers so I tell her I'm leaving for school and quietly close the door. I go to school but I'm worried about Clare. I park and go inside to my locker.

"Hey Jake," Owen nods to me from his locker.

"Hey," I nod back.

"Did Clare go to find Fitz?"

"She stayed home today," I reply.

"She okay?" Owen asks closing his locker. I close mine and lean against it.

"According to Mom Clare stayed home because she wasn't feeling well."

"You don't sound like you believe that," Owen comments.

"I don't. She was fine yesterday, she woke up with a nightmare but she was feeling fine. Mom said it was menstrual cramps, not like I know her cycle or symptoms but Clare's never complained about cramps before. When I got home last night I found Clare in her closet sobbing, curled up and bawling and when I tried to touch her, just put my hand on her arm, she flinched away."

"You think someone hurt her?" Owen asks.

"I don't know, as far as I know she was home all day alone until my parents got home. When I did see her she didn't have any bruises or anything, none that I could see but something happened I'm sure of it. I just have no idea what," I sigh looking down and then look back at Owen. "I haven't been a very good brother, I tried in some ways but I should have tried harder. I failed her. When we were little and she first stopped talking we were still going out as a family and doing things. Mom and Dad would take us to the park we'd play with other kids and they'd make fun of her when they found out she didn't talk. I'd stand up for Clare, but I wished she'd just talk and be normal, and there was even a time I wished she just wasn't around at all. I suck as a big brother."

"Speaking as one big brother to another I'd say you're doing good. Wishing Clare wasn't the way she is or that she wasn't around is normal. I'm three years older than my brother and a few months ago he announced he was gay. A part of me has known for a while, there were signs I guess we all just ignored or didn't think about maybe. I've protected Tris his whole life, I never understood why he liked musicals and theatre, why he got obsessed with teen dramas and all his friends were girls, stuff like that. I spent a lot of time wishing he was more like me, and I spent most of the first year of his life wishing he wasn't born because he screamed all the time. I even tried to mail him back to heaven. No sibling relationship is perfect and when there's something that makes your sibling stand out it makes it that much harder. I've seen you with Clare; I know that she trusts you and I know that she feels you'll protect her. If you think something is wrong then follow your instinct, we can help. She might not tell you right away but she has all of us now too. I'm not sure how well she trusts me or Drew or Bianca yet but I know she trusts Adam and Fitz."

"Something is going on and I think my parents have something to do with it. When we were little I thought Mom and Dad knew best about Clare's "condition" as they call it. They were the ones that talked to the doctors and took her to the hospital. They wer…"

"Wait hospital? I thought you didn't know what trauma made her go mute?"

"I don't, no one does but my parents said she's had break downs before and they've taken her to a mental hospital for a few days. It hasn't happened for a while but she has these really bad nightmares in the spring and it would get so bad that she wouldn't sleep or eat and she'd just sit in her room. They'd take her for a few days and she'd come back and be able to sleep and eat again. But she'd also be scared and timid and quiet, I know that sounds weird because she doesn't talk but she was quieter it was like she was just trying to be invisible."

Owen looks at me a minute I guess trying to think of what to say but when the bell rings we just part and go to class. I spend all morning thinking about Clare, looking back over the past and everything Mom and Dad ever told me about Clare and I wonder if any of it is true. They always said she just stopped talking, that they came home and she was hysterical and the babysitter didn't know why and she just never talked after that. I was at my grandparents at the time, when I left Clare was talking up a storm and when I returned she was mute. Thinking about it they never really seemed to try to figure out what trauma had caused Clare to go mute in the first place. They just said that she'd been through something and we'd never know what.

"Hey you okay? You look preoccupied," Katie comments when I get to my second period class.

"Yeah just worried about Clare," I tell her.

"More than usual?"

"She stayed home sick; I think I'll go check on her at lunch."

"That's sweet, you're a good brother."

"I'm trying to be," I whisper under my breath as the class starts. It's my architectural design class and I'm barely paying attention. When the bell rings for lunch I go straight to my locker to stash my books.

"Jake wait up I can come home with you and check on Clare if you want," Katie offers running after me.

"Thanks but my parents don't like other people at the house. I'll see you later," I say and walk toward the front of school.

"Hey Jake I heard Clare stayed home sick today," Fitz comments coming up to me.

"Yeah I'm just going over to check on her. I don't think she'll up to tutoring today."

"Yeah no worries just tell her…tell her I said hi and I hope she feels better," Fitz requests after thinking a second.

"I will," I nod and walk down to my truck driving home. When I get home the downstairs is empty and the house is quiet. I go up to Clare's room and knock on the door before going in. She's still lying in her bed; it looks like she hasn't moved since I left her this morning. I walk in and sit at the end of her bed and she does look at me. "Feeling better?" I ask and she nods. "Good, Fitz wanted me to say hi for him and he hopes you feel better soon. I told him you probably weren't up for tutoring today."

She picks up a pen and pad of paper from the floor. **Thanks**

"Yeah no problem, have you eaten today?" I question and she shakes her head.

 **Not hungry.**

"Okay well try and eat something. Do you need anything?"

She shakes her head.

"Okay I'm headed back to school, I'll come home right after," I tell her and she nods. I get up to leave her room but then turn back to her. "If someone hurts you, even if it's Mom and Dad you can tell. You know that don't you?"

She nods again but very slowly like she's not really sure. I watch her a few more seconds before I go downstairs leaving the house for school again. Usually I'm a bottomless pit and I eat a lot but today I just don't have an appetite. I get some juice but I don't eat anything. I'm sitting on the bleachers outside when Katie finds me.

"Is Clare feeling any better?" Katie asks.

"Yeah a little, I think she'll be in school tomorrow."

"That's good. You want to spend our spare together? We can do homework," she offers and I nod. She sits down with me and we spend our spare doing homework from our morning classes. I help her with the homework for architectural design class. I'm able to finish all my homework before the bell rings for last period. "You want to come over after school?" Katie asks as we walk inside.

"No I told Clare I'd be home right after school to see how she is."

"Yeah of course, I'll see you tomorrow then," Katie replies kissing me softly.

We part to go to our classes and when I get into math class I see Fitz already there. I sit down at my desk and he turns to me.

"How's Clare doing?"

"Better I think. You want to come over after school? Do homework together? Maybe Clare will feel up to tutoring after all," I comment. I know I just told Katie she couldn't come over but Fitz has been there before and Clare really doesn't know Katie.

"Yeah sure that would be good," Fitz nods and Mr. Armstrong begins class.

 **(FITZ)**

"I'm going to Clare's to see how she is, and do homework with Jake," I tell Owen while getting my books after school.

"Cool you sleeping at my place again?" Owen questions.

"Not sure, I might go home. Steve wasn't around all day, he skipped which probably means he was at a junkie house and he's high today. Long as I don't go near my stepdad I should be okay."

"Well you have the spare key if you decide to sleep over," Owen replies.

I meet Jake out front and follow him to his place. I park out front and we go into the living room.

"Mom will be home by 5:30 you should be gone by then," Jake tells me as we walk in and set our stuff down.

"Owen told me about your conversation this morning, you think she's been hurt? You think your parents had something to do with it?"

"I don't know but I came home and found her huddled in her closet last night. I've started thinking back, questioning everything. I used to think my parents knew best but now I'm not sure. I know my parents love us and I can't imagine them hurting either one of us but something scared Clare so much she wouldn't let me go near her. I'm going to go check on her wait here," Jake says.

"Let me do it," I speak up.

Jake looks at me a second before nodding. I go upstairs and knock on her door waiting a few seconds before realizing that she won't tell me to come in. I open the door slowly and peek in, she's in bed and when she sees me a smile flashes briefly over face but quickly disappears. She curls up and turns away like she's afraid of me.

"Clare what's wrong?"

She only shakes her head and curls up more.

"Clare it's me, you know I would never hurt you, you know you can trust me don't you?" I question stepping into the room but she doesn't respond, just bites her lip and shuts her eyes. "Clare look at me please," I say in a pleading tone but her eyes remain shut.

I kneel down by her bed and take her hand; she resists me for a moment but finally releases her hand to me. I place it palm up in my hand and write on her palm with my finger.

T-R-U-S-T M-E

Clare opens her eyes now, she's still biting her lip and tears are streaming down her cheeks. I take a tissue from her bedside table and wipe her tears away giving her a smile.

"Please tell me," I beg.

She sits up a little grabbing a chalkboard from beside her bed. **My parents don't want me to see you. I can tutor you but nothing else.**

"Why?"

 **Because they** she writes and then erases it. **They told me boys like you will do bad things.**

"They're worried I'm going to try to have sex with you?" I question after thinking about it a moment and she nods. "You know I care about you right? You know I would never do anything to hurt you or do anything you didn't want to do don't you?"

 **Yes I know but they don't want me to have friends.** She looks like she's going to write something else but just keeps tapping the chalk against the chalkboard. I take her hand and hold it.

"Parents don't always know what's best Clare. Everyone needs friends and your parents know nothing about me. They don't know much I care about you because they don't want to get to know me and they want to isolate you. What do you want?"

 **I want to have friends. I want spend time with you away from tutoring. I like you. I want to go on another date.**

"Then we will and you'll spend time with your friends."

 **But my parents.**

"Parents don't have to know everything. Jake wants you to have friends and let you go out with me. Jake will help, so will our friends. I have to leave before your mom gets home you think you can come downstairs and help me with math?"

Clare nods and I smile. She writes on the chalkboard that she has to get dressed so I tell her I'll see her downstairs. I close her door and go down to the living room sitting at the table where Jake is doing homework.

"She's going to come down and help me with math," I tell him.

"Did she tell you what happened last night?"

"Sort of, she said your parents didn't want me to see her anymore other than to tutor me."

"I'm sure they don't but I don't think that's enough to make Clare cower in her closet the way she was last night."

"Yeah I don't think so either, I'm pretty sure more is going on. She started to write something and then erased it and wrote down that your parents thought I would take advantage of her. Which I'm sure they believe even though I never would, but she was going to say something and didn't. She wouldn't even look at me when I first came in but I know it wasn't because of anything I did. She does trust me though and she wants to keep having friends and wants me to take her on another date. I told her your parents don't need to know everything."

"No they don't," Jake shakes his head and then looks over at the bottom of the stairs.

I look over to see Clare standing there and I smile at her. She sits down next to me and I show her my math homework. She simplifies the first part of the first problem and when I start to solve it she kisses my cheek. Then she takes my left hand in hers and writes on my palm.

T-H-A-N-K-S

I grin at her and go back to solving the problem.

 **The update next Sunday will probably start with Fitz going home or the next day at school.**


	6. Each Shard of Memory

**No internet problems today, no yelling at internet service people and no frustrations so there is a chapter!**

 **Ch.6 Each Shard of Memory**

 **(FITZ)**

"Your mom will be home soon I should go," I comment looking at the time.

Jake looks over his shoulder and glances at the clock on the microwave, "Yeah we'll see you tomorrow."

"Yep thanks for helping me with math Clare," I smile at her and she smiles back.

I grab my stuff and Clare gets up walking me to the door, she kisses my cheek as I open the door and then she waves to me. I hear her close the door as I walk down the path to my car. I drive to my house on the other side of the neighborhood, I suppose if Riverdale had train tracks running through it this would be considered the wrong side of the tracks. Since we don't it's just considered the crappy part of town. My mom's car is gone but Rudy's car is here even though it's earlier than he's normally home. He's watching TV and doesn't even look over at me when I come in. There's a note from Mom that she's working a double and she'll be home late. There's no dinner so I grab some crackers and juice and go up to my room. I eat and finish what's left of my homework; math is by far my hardest class and the one with the most homework. When I finish my homework and I can't eat anymore crackers I go downstairs and put the crackers back. My stepdad has been drinking his dinner and it appears he's been doing it awhile since there's a small sea of beer bottles around his feet.

"What the fuck are you doing home?" Rudy questions.

"It's after eight school got out five hours ago," I reply.

"Make yourself useful and clean up the kitchen."

"Why don't you fucking lift a finger to help out," I mutter under my breath as I begin cleaning the kitchen.

There isn't really that much to clean we don't exactly have family meals and my mom never does much cooking even for Rudy. She always cleans the kitchen before she even eats, so the kitchen is usually pretty clean but there's a few dishes from breakfast I'm guessing. I'm almost done when Rudy gets up coming into the kitchen for another beer. I'm rinsing a bowl and am about to put it in the dishrack when Rudy grabs it from my hand.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU FUCKING IDIOT THERE'S STILL SOAP ON THE BOWL," he yells at me before smacking me on the arm with the bowl. "YOU'RE FUCKING USELESS CAN'T EVEN WASH A FUCKING DISH." He hits me on the arms with the bowl a few more times before smashing it on the counter. He has the jagged piece of broken bowl still in his hand and holds it in my face. "YOU FUCKING SCREW UP YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING FUCKING RIGHT."

He tosses the broken piece in the sink and then takes his beer and goes back to watching TV. I grab a broom and pick up the pieces of broken bowl, sweeping up the small shards and going over the floor with a wet paper towel to be safe. I finish cleaning the kitchen and return to my room and don't come out again even when I hear my mom get home after midnight. Steve never does come home but I'm sure he's at the ravine or somewhere getting high or he is still high and he's passed out somewhere. I fall asleep after two and wake up when my alarm goes off at seven. I roll out of bed and pull on some clothes before going into the washroom to finish getting ready. As soon as I'm ready to go I leave the house without eating, I don't want to see my stepdad again, who knows what kind of mood he's in after last night. When I get to school I go to the caf and get some cereal for breakfast. After eating I go to my locker and find Owen at his.

"Hey Fitz," he nods.

"Hey," I reply opening my locker.

"Isn't it a little warm for long sleeves?"

"Yup," I reply putting my books in my locker.

"Steve or Rudy?" Owen questions realizing why I'm wearing long sleeves on a warm day.

"Rudy, it's fine just a few bruises," I respond closing my locker.

"Yeah it's always just a few bruises. You know you're always welcome at my house," Owen says.

"Yeah I know," I nod as we start walking down the hall.

"So did you see Clare yesterday?" Owen asks.

"Yeah she helped me with math but something is going on. It was hard to get her to even talk to me, well you know talk to me the way that she does. When she finally did she told me that her parents didn't want us dating because they thought I'd take advantage of her. I'm sure that's true, I assured her I wouldn't and she knew I wouldn't because she trusts me. But she almost wrote something else and then erased it and wrote that. She's hiding something I just don't know what."

"Well she's here today," Owen says nodding down the hall and I look over to see Clare and Jake approaching us. Clare is smiling just a little but when I grin at her she smiles bigger.

"Hey good to see you back here," I grin.

"Morning guys," Owen says and Clare waves.

"I'll see you after school unless you need me," Jake tells Clare and she nods.

"We'll take good care of her," I assure Jake and then hold my hand out to Clare. She takes my hand, Jake smiles at us and goes to his locker. "You want to go to your locker?" I ask Clare but she shakes her head.

"Let's go out to the foyer and wait for the Torres brothers and B," Owen suggests and Clare nods.

She keeps hold of my hand and we walk to the foyer sitting on the steps. Adam and Drew arrive a few minutes later and sit with us. We wait for Bianca but the Torres brothers have to get to their lockers to get books out for class and we go with them. When the bell rings Clare, Adam and I walk to class leaving Owen and Drew to get to their classes. The three of us have media studies for homeroom and Miss Oh breaks us into groups of three to work on the assignment for today. Miss Oh puts Adam, Clare and I together in a group.

"Feeling better after we talked last night?" I ask Clare and she nods. "Don't let your parents ruin anything for us. Maybe we can go out this afternoon; we could do homework at The Dot and get coffee. Not much of a date I know but it is a school night," I comment.

 **Sounds great I'll tell Jake at lunch.** Clare types on her phone and I smile.

We get to the assignment and finish before the end of class. Clare waves to me before walking to class with Adam and I walk to vehicle maintenance. Owen and Drew are both in class already.

"Hey B got in a fight with Juliana which is why she was almost late," Owen tells me when I go to the car we're working on with Drew.

"She's always getting in a fight with her aunt," I roll my eyes.

"Yeah and you're always getting the crap beat out of you by Steve and Rudy so Drew and I were talking. The two of you are sixteen and can legally move out on your own maybe you should get an apartment together," Owen says.

"I'll talk to my dad tonight; he'll know the laws and regulations. Bianca's aunt has never hit her but it's still a form of abuse. Anyway with all the guys her aunt brings home she's almost been raped before," Drew comments gritting his teeth at the thought.

"Having our own place sounds like a good idea, not dealing with Rudy anymore and only dealing with Steve at school would be good."

Class begins and we get to work on the car, when the bell rings we clean up and go out to the steps for lunch. Clare, Adam and Bianca are all on the steps waiting for us. We eat at the picnic table and talk about Bianca and I getting our own place over lunch, everyone thinks it's a good idea. After lunch we go in to our lockers and we all go to photography class. We learn how to develop film from beginning to end in class.

"I'll meet you on the steps after class," I tell Clare after class and she nods. Drew and I walk to math and Jake's already at his desk.

"Clare told me you're going to The Dot after school. I'm going to Katie's, I can pick Clare up at five and be home before our parents get home," Jake says.

"Cool," I smile.

I don't really understand anything Mr. Armstrong talks about in class but I take lots of notes hoping that Clare can break it down for me later. When class is over I wave to Jake and walk out with Drew until he turns down the hall to go to football practice. I walk out to the steps and find Clare waiting with Adam and Bianca.

"Bianca's coming to my house so the three of us can talk to my parents at dinner. If you want to come over after you and Clare are done you can have dinner at our place and talk to them too," Adam offers.

"Yeah thanks, Jake's picking her up at five so I'll be over just after that," I tell them.

Adam and Bianca go down to her car while Clare and I get in mine and I drive us to The Dot. We get out and go into the café, school just let out so it's not too busy yet.

"Hey Fitz," Spinner greets me when I come in.

"Hi Spinner this is Jake's sister Clare," I introduce them and she waves.

"Nice to meet you Clare. So what'll it be kids?"

Clare takes out her phone and types what she wants showing it to Spinner. I'm sure that Spinner has heard about the mute girl so he's not surprised when she types on her phone and doesn't speak. Spin reads what she wants and rings it up and I order coffee paying for both of us. We sit down and I show her my notes from class and what homework we have. She helps me understand what Armstrong was talking about and breaks the homework down for me so that I can understand it. We finish before Jake arrives so I take her outside and we sit at one of the tables.

 **Are you moving out because of your stepbrother?**

"And because my stepdad hits me and my mom just lets it happen," I tell her. She bites her lip and looks down and a thought occurs to me. "Clare have your parents ever hit you?" I ask her and she shakes her head. "But they don't treat you very well," I comment.

 **They don't hit me.** She types on her phone.

"They don't have to hit you to be bad parents. Bianca's aunt has never hit her but she treats Bianca like crap. Your parents don't want you around anyone that isn't normal Clare," I tell her with an insistent tone.

 **It's normal for me.**

"That doesn't make it right," I say just as Jake pulls up. "I'll see you tomorrow," I tell her and walk her over to the car opening the door for her. I wave to them as they drive away and I get in my car driving to the Torres house and going in through the basement.

"Hey Fitz," Bianca smiles when I come in.

"Drew should be home any minute and Mom's already home making dinner. We told her you and B were staying and we needed to talk to Dad. How was tutoring?" Adam inquires as I sit down.

"Good I understand the homework and what we did in math now," I reply. Adam grins getting back to his homework and I start looking at my other homework.

Drew arrives home after a few moments and the four of us do homework. I hear Omar arrive home and just after that Audra calls us up for dinner.

"Full house tonight," Omar remarks when we're all sitting down.

"The kids wanted to talk with us about something," Audra tells him.

"Bianca and Fitz need to get out of their houses, they're old enough to live on their own and we thought they could get an apartment together but we don't know how to begin the process," Drew tells them.

"Still having problems with your aunt Bianca?" Audra asks.

"More than ever and it's just getting worse. She's starting to bring more men home and they all look at me like I'm candy. She doesn't want me there and I don't want to be there," Bianca says.

"Fitz you have problems with your stepdad?" Audra questions.

"More than problems and with my stepbrother too," I reply.

"Show them," Drew tells me. I pull up my sleeve enough to show them one of the bruises I got last night.

"How often does that happen Fitz?" Omar questions.

"Often enough, Steve and I get into fights a lot and he's almost always high or drunk. Rudy, my stepdad, always takes his son's side and my mom just stays out of it all together."

"You're both of legal age to move out. I'll speak with a family lawyer at our office tomorrow. I think it's best if you both stay here tonight, I can have the paperwork ready and pick you both up at lunch tomorrow to sign. Because there is clear evidence of abuse we can expedite the move. It will probably be found that your guardians need to support you but that could take some time to come through. Meanwhile I recommend that you both get part time jobs, you will also qualify for government support. There will be some emergency startup funds before the paperwork comes through. I do think it's a good idea to get an apartment together but you will have to start looking tomorrow."

"We can start tonight I'll look online," Bianca says.

"Bianca you can sleep in Drew's room tonight," Audra tells her.

"Awesome," Drew blurts out before Audra can say anything else.

"And Drew will sleep on the sofa in the basement with Fitz," Audra adds.

"Damn," Drew sighs and Adam and I laugh.

We finish dinner talking mostly about how tomorrow will go. When we're done Bianca and I help clean up and then she goes to help Drew with his homework. Adam and I go down to the basement to watch TV.

"Since we'll be out at lunch tomorrow you should eat with Clare. Eat with her alone, Owen and Drew will understand I'm sure, try and talk with her I'm sure something is going on with her parents. I know she trusts you and if you're alone she might open up to you."

"Yeah I'll see if she'll talk, I'm not sure she trusts me that much yet," Adam comments.

"I think she does."

 **(CLARE)**

"Did you have a nice time?" Jake asks when he starts driving home from The Dot.

I nod and he smiles. We arrive home a couple moments later and get out; I go up to my room before Mom gets home. I hear her come in and start making dinner in the kitchen. I hear dad come home some time later and then they call us down to get dinner.

"How was school Clare? Any problems today?" Mom queries and I shake my head. "Good," Mom replies before she and Dad take their plates up to their room.

"Let's eat down here, we can watch TV," Jake suggests and I nod.

We eat while watching TV and then clean up our plates. I'm done with my homework and Jake and I stay downstairs watching TV almost until bed time. After getting ready for bed I come out of my washroom to find Mom standing outside the door waiting for me.

"Dad and I want to go to the cabin this weekend can we trust you or do you need to spend the weekend at the hospital?"

I grab the chalkboard kept on the door of the washroom to write. **You can trust me I'll be good.**

"Good, Jake will be in charge. Dad is talking to him right now, no parties, no boys, straight home after tutoring and I don't want you alone with that boy under any circumstances am I clear?" Mom questions and I nod. "Good girl as long as you behave you can keep going to that school."

I nod and walk to my room closing the door. I stay up for a little while on my laptop before falling asleep. I wake up after a bad dream, panting and crying. I consider going in to wake up Jake but if Mom knows I had another bad dream I'm sure to spend the weekend at the hospital, so I stay in my bed. I consider texting Fitz but he's probably asleep and the text noise may not wake him up. I get my laptop from my desk and stay up on it for a few hours, writing some and watching videos, eventually falling back to sleep around four. When Jake wakes me up for school a few hours later I'm quite tired and feel like I barely got any sleep, because I really didn't. By the time we go down to the table for breakfast Mom and Dad have left and after we eat Jake drives us to school.

"Mom and Dad will be gone all weekend if you want to have Fitz over it's okay with me," Jake tells me as we start walking into school.

 **Mom said no boys, no one over at all.**

"Mom and Dad won't ever know and I know that you like him and that he's good to you. Mom and Dad think he's going to take advantage of you but I know he won't."

 **Thanks Jake.**

He smiles and we walk into school, Owen is in the foyer and he smiles at us. I go over and sit by Owen and Jake says he'll check in with me later.

"Fitz and the others should be here soon, both he and Bianca stayed at Drew and Adam's last night," Owen tells me.

 **Are they going to move out on their own?**

"Yeah Fitz said the Torres parents agreed that they should and Omar will meet them at lunch to sign papers," Owen says just as I see Fitz walking up the steps with Bianca, Adam and Drew.

"Hey," Fitz smiles sitting down next to me and I grin at him.

"So you guys all set to move out?" Owen asks.

"Just about, we'll have to get our stuff but Bianca found us an apartment Omar thinks we can afford now we just need jobs," Fitz replies.

"And to sign all the papers but Omar will come get us at lunch," Bianca says.

"Drew and Owen are going to eat with the football team so you and I will eat lunch together," Adam tells me and I smile.

When the bell rings Fitz, Adam and I walk to class, we're just continuing what we did yesterday. I spend most of my time in math working on exercises for Fitz to do so that he better understands what he's doing in his math class.

"Did you bring lunch or do you need to go to the caf?" Adam asks as we walk out of class.

 **I have lunch.**

Adam smiles and we go to his locker so he can get his lunch but I never visited my locker so my lunch is still in my backpack. Adam takes me to the auditorium where there seems to be a play rehearsal.

 **Should we be here?**

"It's okay I'm working on the play remember? Besides I thought you should see the play if you were going to help out. They're just rehearsing right now, reading from the script and working on costumes and sets."

 **I've never seen a play before.**

"Your parents never took you to one? Didn't you have school plays or anything at Layton?" Adam asks and I shake my head.

"Hey Clare did you decide to help out?" Eli asks walking over.

"She's still thinking about it but I thought it might help if she saw the play," Adam tells him.

"Cool, well I have to get back to it," Eli says before turning and walking back to the table where he was sitting.

"So how are things with you and Fitz? I hear your parents don't approve of him," Adam comments after a few moments of silence.

 **They don't approve of anyone. They don't like me to have friends or be around people. If it were up to them I'd have spent my life locked in my room.**

"You really think they would have kept you that secluded?" Adam questions and I nod in response.

 **I think if Jake didn't exist that I would have been kept locked away for the past eleven years. Or I wouldn't exist at all.**

"They would have kept you locked up? What do you mean you wouldn't exist?" Adam questions.

I take the phone back to answer but my hand is shaking. I start to type but my whole body is shaking now. Tears flood into my eyes and the lightening flash of a memory strikes into my mind. I close my eyes trying to keep it away, it doesn't work it simply burns the image in and it replays over and over.

"Clare what's wrong?" Adam asks putting his hand on my arm.

I jump up and burst through the door running out of the room. I run down the hall, tears streaming from my eyes and I hear Adam calling after me but I keep running. At least until I get caught by a couple of people. I start struggling, pushing at them to get away. My eyes are so clouded by tears I can't see who has ahold of me.

"Whoa Clare it's okay it's Owen and Drew," Owen says and I start to calm down a little. I blink my eyes and I see them clearly now.

"Clare I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Adam tells me handing me my phone.

I take a deep breath and take the phone to type on it. **It's okay. Not your fault.**

"You don't look well, should we get Jake?" Drew offers and I nod.

"I'll call him I got his number when I started hanging out with Clare," Adam comments and gets out his phone. I see now that he has both our backpacks and I take mine from him. "Clare needs you we're near biology…yeah see you in a moment," Adam says into the phone before hanging up. "Jake's coming," Adam tells me and then Jake comes running around the corner.

"What's wrong? She's shaking what happened?" Jake inquires taking me from Owen and Drew's arms. He holds me tightly and I begin to calm down

"We were eating lunch and talking, about your parents and then she ran out crying," Adam explains.

 **I'm sorry. I got upset talking about Mom and Dad.**

"It's okay," Jake says rubbing his hand on my back, "you're okay. Do you want me to take you home?"

I shake my head.

 **I'm okay. I'm sorry for scaring everyone I was upset. It was stupid. I'm sorry.**

"It's okay Clare you have nothing to be sorry for. I shouldn't have upset you," Adam apologizes.

 **It's not your fault Adam.**

"Are you sure you're okay? I have a spare next period if you want to stay with me I'm sure Principal Simpson will allow it," Jake says.

 **No I'm okay. It was stupid. Besides Simpson will call Mom and they won't go away for the weekend.**

"Okay text me if anything else happens," Jake says.

"We all have photography next we'll watch her," Owen tells him.

"You're going to tutor Fitz after school; you should go to Adam's if that's okay with you two?" Jake asks them.

"Yeah fine with us," Drew shrugs.

"Thanks," Jake says to them and looks at me, "text me if you need me and I'll check in with you after school."

"Fitz and Bianca should be back soon let's go wait out front for them," Adam suggests and I nod.

 **I'm sorry for running Adam.** I type on my phone and hand it to Adam as we start walking into the school.

"It's okay Clare you don't have to be sorry or ashamed. If something's going on you can talk to me. You can tell me anything I'm good at keeping secrets I can keep yours too," Adam assures me putting an arm around me and I smile.

 **Thanks Adam. I like having friends.**

"You have lots of them now Clare you'll never be secluded again."

 **Update next Sunday will pick up from around here in either Jake or Fitz's pov.**


	7. I Believe My Own Eyes

**If you've been to the DeGrassi Saviors site then you should have seen the writing calendars then you know this is the last update until probably January 10** **th** **. There may be one on January 3rd depending on Christmas vacation, I will keep you guys updated on that.**

 **Ch. 7 I Believe My Own Eyes**

 **(FITZ)**

"Thanks for everything Omar," Bianca says as we get out of his car.

"No problem kids I'm just glad you'll be safe now. I'll see you both this evening," Omar replies. He waves to his sons who are on the steps with Clare and Owen before driving away.

"Hey," I smile at Clare and she grins back. I nod to Owen and Adam while Bianca kisses Drew.

"So how'd it go?" Owen asks while the lovebirds are still kissing.

"Great we signed all the papers; we'll go with officers to get all of our stuff this weekend. We called about apartments and we'll go look at one this evening," I answer and Drew and Bianca finally pull apart from their kiss.

"Cool, that all sounds good," Adam grins just as the bell rings.

"Yeah we'll both be a lot happier out of our houses. We need to go to our lockers we'll meet you guys in class," Bianca comments.

"Come on Clare," Adam says putting his arm around her. Bianca and I rush to our lockers to get our books before class.

"Hey Fitz," Jake calls as I open my locker.

"Hi Jake what's up?"

"I told Clare that you two should study at Adam's place after school. I'll pick her up from there but stay with her, watch her."

"Did something happen?" I question.

"Adam was with her at lunch, they were talking about our parents and it upset Clare, enough for her to run from the room and for Adam to call me. She said she was okay and it was nothing, apologized for running out but it just reinforces to me that my parents are…I don't know but something isn't right."

"Don't worry I'll keep an eye on her, we all will," I assure him.

"Thanks. Our parents are away for the weekend. We're not supposed to have people over but I don't really give a fuck what my parents want right now. So if you wanted to come over for the weekend I know Clare would like that."

"Yeah thanks I'll do that," I grin.

"We gotta get to class," Bianca says as the late bell rings. Jake nods and we walk to class.

"That took a while," Drew whispers as Mr. Haas begins a slideshow.

"I was talking to Jake," I whisper back and Clare looks at me. "He told me what happened at lunch. He also said your parents are gone this weekend and invited me to stay. I'll have to pack up and move out this weekend but I will be over," I tell her and she smiles.

"Quiet please," Mr. Haas scolds us and we go quiet. The slideshow takes up all of class; it's all about development and the workings of a manual camera. When the slideshow ends he tells us we'll be learning about digital photography next week. When class ends I hold my arm out to Clare and walk her out of class.

"I'll meet you after last period to go to Adam's," I tell Clare and she smiles.

I release her arm and she walks with Adam to class and Drew and I walk to math. Jake is in class when we get there and I nod to him.

"I was thinking that with my parents gone everyone could come over Saturday night. Not a party I'm not that dumb but just you guys, Bianca, Owen and Adam. You guys can watch movies or something," Jake tells us.

"Cool," Drew smiles.

"I'm sure we could use a movie night after Bianca and I pack up and move out of our places," I comment.

Mr. Armstrong comes in and begins class so we go quiet. With Clare's tutoring help I'm actually beginning to understand what Armstrong is saying in class. I'm still pretty confused but at least I'm getting even a tiny portion. I'm starting to get how I can break things down; I still have a lot of questions for Clare when class is out though. I wave to Jake and Drew as I leave class and walk to Clare's locker. I find her and Adam and we all walk out to the steps where we find Bianca.

"I'm starved we didn't get much lunch," I comment.

"Let's get snacks from The Dot before we go to my place," Adam says and we walk to The Dot since it's just down the street.

"Hey kids," Spinner smiles when we walk in.

"Hi Spin, I'm starved give me a burger and a chocolate milkshake to-go. You want anything Clare?" I offer and she types chocolate milkshake on her phone. "One chocolate milkshake, you guys want anything?"

"I'll take a burger and a water," Bianca says.

"I'll have the same as Fitz," Adam orders and I start to get out my wallet. "I got it Fitz you should be saving your money, you still don't have a job," Adam comments getting out his wallet.

"You need a job Fitz?" Spinner asks as he rings us up and gives Adam his change.

"Yeah Bianca and I both do we're moving out of our houses and getting an apartment together. We get some government help but we both need part time jobs still," I reply.

"Well one of you could work here; we could use some evening and weekend help. Counter work and serving people, cleaning up and stuff. We can only hire one person right now but I know the movie theatre in the mall is looking to hire," Spinner tells us.

"I'll take the movie theatre Drew and I could use some free movies," Bianca says.

"I'd rather work here, close to school and close to Clare," I reply and see Clare smile. She bites the corner of her lip blushing slightly and it makes me grin.

"Cool, so I'll grab you the forms just fill them out and drop them off tomorrow. You can start next week," Spinner says.

"Awesome thanks Dude," I grin.

Spinner smiles and gives us our drinks before going to the back and comes back out with the forms I need to fill out, all tax forms and stuff. Spinner brings us our food, I thank him for the job again and we leave, walking back to school. Adam decides to ride with Bianca so Clare comes in my car. When we get to Adam's we all go in through the basement and begin on homework while those of us who got food begin eating. Clare and I of course start with my math homework so she can explain it to me. When she's done I actually do understand what happened in math. Clare finishes her own math homework in less than half the time it took to tutor me. We all do our photography homework together, it's fairly easy. I'm still working on media studies homework when Jake arrives.

"We have to get home Mom will be home soon. We'll see you guys tomorrow," Jake says.

"See you tomorrow Clare," I smile and she smiles back waving at Adam and Bianca.

Clare and Jake leave and pass Drew on the way in. Drew greets us and then sits down to do his homework and Omar comes in. He's taking us to go look at the apartment Bianca found, we day goodbye to the brothers and go with Omar. He drives us to the building and a man is waiting out front for us.

"You must be Omar, I'm Phillip Cates building manager," the man says shaking Omar's hand and then looks at us. "And you are Fitz and Bianca?"

"Yeah," I nod shaking his hand and Bianca does the same.

"Well the apartment is on the third floor, utilities are included," Phillip says opening the front door and letting us in. We get in the elevator and he tells us about the building as we go up to the third floor. He opens the front door and we go into the apartment. It's a fairly small kitchen/living room/ding room area but it's two bedrooms and that's all we really need. "Do you have jobs yet?"

"I do and we get money from the government too. Bianca will find a job soon," I reply.

"My wife and I will sign for them," Omar speaks up and Phillip nods. Bianca and I look around the apartment and we both like the place. It's nothing special but it's clean and near school, it's got two bedrooms and we should be able to afford it.

"We'll take it," Bianca says.

"I'll give you the forms you can bring them tomorrow. It will take me a couple days to get back to you the apartment is move in ready," Phillip tells us.

"Great thanks," I smile.

"Thank you Phillip," Omar replies shaking his hand.

We go down to the office with Phillip and he gives us some forms to fill out. We thank him again and leave driving back to the Torres house. Audra has dinner waiting for us and we all sit down. We tell them I got a job and we think we found an apartment so long as we get approved. Audra says she thinks it's best if Bianca and I stay here until we move into our apartment.

 **(JAKE)**

"We'll be leaving in the morning and returning Sunday evening. Straight home after school Clare, stay in the house this weekend a…" Mom is saying when I slam my hand on the table.

"She's not a fucking helpless child and she has friends now you can't keep her prisoner in the house," I growl and Clare gasps while my parents just sort of glare at me. It's Thursday night and they're preparing to leave for the weekend, I can't wait for them to go.

"Jake what is the matter with you Son? We're only thinking of what's best for your sister," Dad tells me.

"No, no I don't think you are I think you're doing what you think is in your best interest not hers. If you were doing what was in Clare's best interest you'd be happy that she has friends," I argue.

"We are happy that she has friends Jake we're simply worried about her. She's fragile; people will take advantage of her. If a boy tried to rape her she couldn't scream out for help," Mom tells me in a calm voice.

"No but she could fight like hell and I know she would. Not to mention that I would never let a guy near her that I even thought would rape her. She has friends, good friends and they care about her she's not going to be a prisoner in this house, not this weekend and not ever again."

"Jake what has gotten into you? You know all we want is what's best for you and your sister," Mom replies.

I clench my fists and open my mouth to argue but Clare puts her hand on my arm. She looks worried and if I keep arguing they might decide not to leave or that they can't leave me in charge of Clare. So I force out a breath and I just nod making sure I behave well for the rest of the night. I even volunteer to clean the kitchen. When I'm done cleaning I go upstairs but stop just outside Clare's door when I hear Mom in Clare's room talking to her.

"…Jake is in charge this weekend but just you remember what will happen if we don't think we can trust you," Mom is saying.

I hear Clear writing on her chalkboard but can't see what she says; I do hear Mom's answer though.

"Good girl, just remember one screw up and you'll be going to the hospital again. We can't have one of your breakdowns again Clare," Mom says in a stern voice.

I hear the clicking of Clare's chalk on the chalkboard again.

"Of course you do Clare. Your brother likes to think that you're normal but you're not. We look out for you Clare; we do what's best for you. And remember this…" I hear weight on Clare's bed so I assume Mom is sitting on Clare's bed. Whatever Mom says she speaks to low for me to hear. When I hear Mom's footsteps approaching the door I rush past Clare's door into my room.

Clare doesn't leave her room the rest of the night, not even to get ready for bed. I peek in before going to bed myself to make sure she's okay but she appears to be sleeping. I don't want to disturb her so I let her sleep. The next morning we get ready for school and say goodbye to our parents before they leave.

"Be good; look out for your sister Jake. I don't want any problems," Dad says.

"There won't be," I nod. Mom kisses our foreheads and then they leave. "I told Fitz he should come over and that Adam, Drew, Bianca and Owen should come over on Saturday to watch a movie," I tell Clare when Mom and Dad are gone.

 **We'll get into trouble.**

"No we won't, they won't ever know and they can't keep you prisoner anymore," I tell her but she looks down biting her lip. There's fear in her eyes, not just worry about getting in trouble but true fear. "You're scared of them aren't you? Have they ever hurt you?" I ask her, she keeps looking down but slowly shakes her head. "Clare you can tell me," I urge her but she shakes her head again. "We won't get into trouble Clare I promise, they won't ever know. They're already starting to go back to their own selfish lives. I want you to have friends and be happy. I know you're happy when you're with them. You like being with Fitz don't you?"

 **Yes very much.**

"Then he's coming over, they all are and don't worry about Mom and Dad. They don't need to know anything ever again," I state firmly.

Clare gives me a soft smile and we grab our stuff leaving for school. I park at school and we get out going inside. Fitz, Bianca, Owen and Adam are in the foyer and I leave Clare with them. I go to my locker and Katie approaches me.

"Are you going to the game after school?" Katie asks.

"No I need to go home, but Clare should go to the game. If you're free tomorrow night though Clare has people coming over to watch movies so we could go out."

"Great I have no plans at all and my parents are taking my sister to some music thing."

I smile and put my arm around her walking Katie to her math class. I go to my English class sitting at my desk; Drew walks in just before the bell.

"I'm going to suggest to Fitz that he take Clare to the Game tonight. Can she hang out with you guys afterward? Our parents are gone and I trust you guys with her just make sure she gets home before dawn," I tell him.

"Yeah of course she can hang out with us and our curfew is midnight so she'll be home before then," Drew replies and I smile.

Class begins and I sit back listening to Miss Dawes, she spends the whole class reading to us as we read along in our books. My next class is architectural design with Katie and we make plans for Saturday night. When the lunch bell rings I go looking for Fitz, I find him with my sister and their friends.

"Hey Sis, so you are going to the football game tonight and then you can hang out with everyone after," I tell her.

 **Adam invited me to the game and said I could hang out.** Clare types on her phone and smiles.

"Have fun tonight, I'll see you when you get home okay?"

Clare nods and I go off to eat with Katie and we spend our spare period together. When I get to math last period Fitz is there along with Drew.

"Bianca and I got approved for the apartment we'll move in this weekend. Everyone's going to help but we'll all be over for movie night Saturday night. If it's okay with you I want to come home with Clare tonight? I'll sleep on the sofa I just want to be with her," Fitz tells me.

"It's cool with me, I trust you with Clare. The more people she has around to make her feel normal the better. We can help move you guys in tomorrow, I have plans with Katie that evening but nothing during the day."

"Thanks we could use the help. I know you don't know what's going on with your parents but if you ever need somewhere safe for Clare to be she can come to my place. My apartment will be safe for her, Adam's and Owen's places too," Fitz assures me.

"Yeah she's always welcome at our place," Drew agrees.

"Thanks I get the feeling she'll need it," I nod with a grateful smile to the both of them.

Mr. Armstrong comes in and begins class. Probably because it's a Friday class seems to drag by but the last bell of the day finally rings.

"I'm going to get Clare from class and take her to the game," Fitz tells me as the three of us leave class.

I smile and walk to the front doors, I drive straight home. With the house empty and my parents gone for the weekend I go into their room. I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for but this may be the only true opportunity I get to look. Before I touch a single thing I snap pictures of every inch of their room so I make sure it's exactly as they left it. Once I'm sure that I've gotten pictures of every inch of their room from multiple angles I start looking through things. It's not as though I expect to find evidence of them hitting Clare hidden in their room or something. Still I'm certain they're hiding something, there's no real evidence that they're hiding something but I have a gut feeling that they are.

I go through their dresser first but all I find are clothes, and some things I'd like to pretend I never saw. Knowing your parents have a porno tape and sex toys is just wrong. I look under the bed and under the mattress and still nothing. I look through Mom's jewelry box and their night stands. I take a break to eat something, microwaving a frozen dinner and eating it so quickly that I burn my tongue before returning to my search. When I go into their closet I find a small box of files tucked away into a corner under Mom's clothes. I pull it out and put it on the bed taking off the lid and pulling out the first piece of paper.

It's medical records, Clare's medical records from a psychiatric hospital. Most of it is just a record of when she's stayed in the hospital. A few papers have medical jargon about Clare being hysterical or having a mental break down. I find a couple of records of her being on prescriptions when she was younger and have a vague memory of mom crushing up some pills for her and putting them in Clare's applesauce. I keep going through the papers; some are pharmacy receipts or receipts for things they've bought for her such as the chalkboards. Then I find a note, a doctor's note like from a medical chart I think.

 **I'm confident that these treatments and medications will block the memories.**

If the words on the note weren't suspicious and worrisome enough the note is signed by my uncle! My uncle's a clinical psychologist, I knew that but why was he the one treating Clare? As far as I know he's never treated Clare. I starting thinking back on it and the few time Uncle Norman has ever come to the house Clare has been petrified of him. Just as my mind begins racing I'm startled by Fitz yelling that they're home.

"JAKE WE'RE HOME."

 **(CLARE)**

"I guess you've never been to a football game before?" Fitz asks as we walk out to the bleachers.

 **My last school wasn't big on sports.**

"It's fun, it can be violent but Drew and Owen are both good players," Fitz tells me.

"They're the best, but K.C. is pretty good too," Adam says coming to my other side.

"K.C. is great," Jenna adds walking next to us with Alli and Dave.

We sit down in the front row of the bleachers and they start explaining to me the positions and the rules and all that. The players are warming up and Bianca joins us. She points out Drew and Owen to me on the field. Once I know their numbers I can keep track of them on the field. Before the game we watch the players warming up, the opposing team arrive and the cheerleaders cheering. The band is playing music and people are talking and cheering for their teams, there's a lot of energy and excitement in the air. When the game actually begins the excitement and energy go up tenfold. I watch everyone playing but mostly keep my eyes on Drew and Owen since they are my friends. By halftime DeGrassi has a slim lead of three points.

"Are you hungry?" Fitz asks and I nod.

"I'll get snacks you stay here with Clare," Adam says.

"I'll help, you girls want anything?" Dave asks Jenna and Alli.

They tell Dave what they want and Bianca asks Adam to get her some popcorn. Adam and Dave get up and walk off. Owen and Drew sit on the player's bench and when they turn back to look at us I wave to them and they wave back. Adam and Dave return with snacks and drinks and sit down again. The game soon resumes and we watch the guys play. It's very close for the whole game, we lag behind the other team in the 3rd quarter but come out ahead to win the game. Thanks to a winning touchdown by Drew. Bianca runs out to the field to congratulate Drew, Jenna does the same for K.C. and the rest of us cheer from the stands.

"The team is going for pizza you guys can come, we're going to Alfredo's," Owen tells us while Bianca is still kissing Drew.

"I'll take Adam and Clare and head over now, Bianca can come when she stops sucking Drew's face," Fitz comments and I smile.

Adam, Fitz and I go to Fitz's car and he drives to us to the pizza place. Adam tells us where the team usually eats, we order some drinks and sit there. When Adam goes to use the washroom Fitz turns to me, brushing a curl behind my ear.

"The apartment that Bianca and I are moving into, it's not just a safe place for us I want it to be a safe for you as well. You're welcome there any time," he tells me. I smile and place a chaste kiss on his cheek.

 **Thank you Fitz. I feel safe with you.**

Fitz reads it on my phone and grins wide, he's still smiling at me when Adam returns from the washroom and it makes him laugh. Bianca arrives followed by Jenna, Alli and Dave, some of the cheerleaders and finally the football team. We hang out for a couple of hours and it's fun. I don't exactly participate in conversations but I've never done anything like this and hanging out with everyone is fun. Just the energy in the room and the time with my friends is great. The pizza place closes at ten and they kick us out. Adam offers for us to come over but I already know Jake gave Fitz permission to stay the night I tell Fitz I want to go home.

"JAKE WE'RE HOME," Fitz calls when we come in the door. I hear noises upstairs as I'm locking the door and then he comes running downstairs.

"Hey how was the game?" Jake asks.

 **Great I had lots of fun. What have you been doing all night?**

"Just hanging out. I'll grab bedding for Fitz," Jake says and I nod.

"Are you tired?" Fitz asks and I shake my head. "You want to watch a movie?"

 **Yes. I'm going to get ready for bed first.**

Fitz nods and I go upstairs, Jake has a sheet, pillows and blankets. I tell Jake I'm going to get ready for bed and then watch a movie with Fitz. He nods and takes the bedding downstairs. I get my pajamas on, brush my teeth and wash my face then get my robe form my room before going downstairs. Jake and Fitz have the sofa all made up for Fitz.

"I think Fitz can take care of you from here so I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. I'll see you both in the morning," Jake says hugging me before he goes upstairs.

I turn on the TV and pick out a movie, I put it in and Fitz begins turning out the lights. We sit down together on the sofa and I'm about to put on the movie but Fitz takes the remote. He takes both my hands and looks into my eyes.

"I have a question to ask and I'm hoping you'll say yes," Fitz tells me and I tilt my head wondering what the question could be. "I was hoping, and would be extremely happy if you'd be my girlfriend?"

I smile wide and nod my head vigorously before smashing my lips to his for a kiss.

"You ready to watch a movie Girlfriend?" Fitz asks when our lips part and I nod my head again.

He takes the remote and starts the movie; he leans back putting his arm out. I curl my knees up on the sofa and put my head on his chest and smile because I am truly happy.

 **The next update will be in January and will begin with Fitz and Bianca moving into their apartment. It will also include Jake expressing his concerns about his parents to Fitz.**


	8. The Way You Smile Touched My Heart

**Welcome back! I don't know about you all but I missed these stories. Two months is a long time without the long stories which is why One Shot Month will be in September this year. Short Story Month will still be in July and December. Since I didn't get around to Christmas shots in December I will probably do a Christmas themed One Shot Week at the end of June or beginning of July.**

 **In case you didn't notice the list on my profile page got a bit longer as I was actually able to do some plotting during the break. A lot of which were requests from my wonderful readers.**

 **In case you didn't go back and read the first seven chapters here is a recap:**

 **Jake and Clare are siblings; Jake's dad Glen married Helen when Clare was five. Glen adopted Clare and Helen adopted Jake.**

 **Clare is new to DeGrassi and has just started ten along with Adam. She suffers from selective mutism, which she's been afflicted with since the age of four. Before now Jake has always thought his parents knew best when it came to Clare but now he's begun to suspect their parents are the cause of her selective mutism.**

 **Fitz and Bianca are moving into their own apartment to get away from dangerous home lives. Fitz just asked Clare to be his girlfriend and she said yes.**

 **Tonight is a bit on the short side because it was a fairly busy day sorry. Hope you enjoy it anyway.**

 **Ch. 8 The Way You Smile Touched My Heart**

 **(FITZ)**

I wake up to my alarm and yawn. It's early to be awake on a Saturday and I don't normally set an alarm for a Saturday but we're all meeting at the Torres house for breakfast. Bianca and I move into our new apartment today. Omar is going to come with us, two officers, Owen and Drew to get our stuff. While we're doing that Audra, Jake, Clare and Adam will move in some stuff Owen's parents and the Torres parents are giving us for the house. It's all basic stuff like dishes, towels, sheets and such. After that they will go shopping for some more basic stuff like soap, sponges and all of that.

"Clare's in the washroom she'll be down in a moment," Jake tells me.

"Cool I'll get dressed," I reply and grab my bag but look back at Jake. "I don't know if Clare told you but I asked her to be my girlfriend last night and she said yes."

"She did and she's really happy about it, you make her happy and you're good to her both things she deserves and hasn't had in a long time," Jake says.

I smile and go into the downstairs washroom to get ready. When I come out dressed and ready Clare is downstairs. We're all ready so we all leave in Jake's truck, I'll be back tonight and his truck will be helpful for moving boxes and all that. Clare sits in the front with Jake and I squeeze into the back but it's a short ride to Drew and Adam's place. We go in through the front and Audra has breakfast ready it's just coffee, juice, bagels, fruit and muffins but it's lots of food and we all fill up.

"I'll see you at my apartment in a few hours," I tell Clare before we leave. She smiles and gives me a gentle kiss; I smile and go out to the van with Drew, Owen and Bianca.

"That was a cute kiss," Bianca says when Omar begins driving.

"I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes," I grin.

"Awesome," Drew smiles.

"Way to go," Owen comments patting my back from behind.

We arrive at Juliana's first and we all walk in along with two officers. We go in with the officers who inform Juliana that Bianca is moving out. We have a few boxes but Bianca doesn't have a whole lot of stuff she wants to take so we get it all packed up in less than an hour. Then we go to my house, my parents appear to be gone but Steven is home eating on the sofa and watching TV.

"What the fuck is going on?" Steve panics when the officers come in.

"Are your parents home?" One of the officers asks.

"No they're out, you can't come in without a warrant you know," Steve snaps at the officers.

"We're not here to arrest anyone, when you're parents get home give them this," the officer tells him handing him the paperwork that says I'm moving out and they can't come near me.

"What the fuck is this?" Steve asks taking the paper.

"I'm moving out, I got an apartment with Bianca."

"Good I'll finally get my own fucking bedroom," Steve replies as we go up to my room and I start packing.

I don't have much stuff either and certainly not much that I want to keep. I pack most of clothes and the few things I actually want to take and it all fits into two boxes. Now that we're done the officers leave because they're job is done and Omar drives us to the apartment. The others aren't back yet but we bring in our boxes and find the boxes of stuff Audra and the others brought over so Bianca and I start unpacking. Omar calls Audra to have her pick up some lunch, Drew helps Bianca unpack in her room and Owen comes into my room to help me.

"So how'd it go last night at Clare's?" Owen asks as we begin unpacking.

"Awesome, besides asking her to be my girlfriend we had a great time. We watched a movie and cuddled on the sofa, she was happy and relaxed at least more than she has been in the last couple of weeks."

"Good," Owen grins.

"Yeah but I do wish I knew what she was so afraid of," I comment as we hear the front door open so we go out to the living room as everyone else comes in.

"Everything go okay?" Adam asks when they walk in.

"Yeah no problems did you have fun shopping?" I question as I pull Clare into my arms and kiss her forehead. Clare nods in response to my question.

"We brought lunch everyone should eat," Audra says.

We sit in the kitchen eating pizza from paper plates and then Bianca and I unpack with help. There isn't too much too unpack really and we finish within a couple of hours. The Torres parents go home and Drew drives the minivan to Clare's place, we all ride in the van except for Jake who drives the truck back.

"I have a date with Katie soon I need to get ready for. You guys make yourself at home, there's not a lot in the way of food but you can order pizza or something. Here this is for Clare's portion of whatever you order," Jake says taking a $20 from his wallet and handing it to Owen. "Fitz come upstairs with me I want your opinion on what shirt to wear tonight," Jake says.

"Yeah sure," I nod and follow him upstairs. Since I have no opinion in clothes and all my clothes are t-shirts and jeans I really doubt Jake is looking for my opinion on what to wear.

"I did some digging last night," Jake tells me when we're in his room. "I went looking through my parent's room and I found some stuff, some of Clare's medical records and a note signed by a doctor like from a medical chart. The note says the doctor is sure the treatment will erase Clare's memories and the truly suspicious thing is that the doctor that signed it is my uncle. He's a clinical psychologist but I never knew he ever saw Clare in a professional capacity. I had never really thought about it before but the few times that we've seen my uncle for holidays and stuff Clare has been terrified of my uncle. I never put it together I just figured she was shy around him like everyone else, but thinking back on it I know it was more than shy it was fear. I'm certain now that whatever happened to make Clare go mute my parents are the cause of it and now I'm sure my uncle helped."

"That's pretty scary Dude," I reply because at the moment it's all I can think to say.

"Yeah it is and I'm getting worried that my parents my try and hurt her again. I wish I'd paid more attention over the years I honestly don't know what they're capable of. I thought about going to the cops or Children's Aide but I don't have any proof, I can't take the stuff from my parent's room without them knowing. If they even think I'm trying I'm afraid of what they might do."

"You know I'll do anything to keep her safe and she's always welcome at our place, Adam's and Owen's."

"Yeah I know and thanks I feel better knowing she has so many people. You better get back downstairs and I should get ready. Katie's curfew is midnight so I'll be home just after that. Our parents will be home late tomorrow afternoon so you can sleep over again if you want," Jake tells me.

"Thanks I think I'll do that," I grin. Jake smiles and I leave his room returning downstairs.

 **What did Jake want?** Clare writes on a chalkboard when I come into the living room.

"He said I could stay the night again," I tell her.

"We ordered pizza again," Owen informs me.

"And we have a movie cued up but Clare wanted to wait for you," Adam says.

"Well let's start the movie then," I grin putting my arm around Clare and we walk to the sofa.

She and I sit on the sofa and I keep my arm around her. Bianca and Drew join us on the sofa while Adam and Owen take the armchairs. We start the movie and Jake comes down and waves to Clare before leaving. When the movie is about halfway over there's a knock on the door and Owen gets up to open the door. Drew gets up to take the pizza while Owen pays since he has the money from everyone. I pause the movie and we all get pizza before I start it again.

We watch three movies together; Clare spends most of the time in my arms except for when we're eating. She seems happy the whole time, happy and secure. She leans on me and holds my hand, she smiles most of the time and I know she's enjoying the time with me and her friends. By 11:30 everyone else has gone home but I'm sleeping over again.

"We'll clean up in the morning before your parents get back but we should get to bed now," I tell her after she locks the door when the others leave.

She walks to the kitchen and gets the chalkboard. **Jake's not home yet and I'm not tired.**

"Okay then what do you want to do?" I ask her and she shrugs. "We could watch more TV or I could hold you in your room," I suggest. She smiles when I say the last part but also looks a little nervous by this suggestion.

 **TV.** She writes.

I smile and take her hand and we sit back on the sofa. Despite telling me she wasn't tired she falls asleep in my arms before Jake comes home. I keep the TV on and hold her but when the front door unlocks it startles her awake. She bolts up and looks petrified, she's nervously chewing her lip and has frightened tears running down her cheeks. At first I think she had a bad dream but she's shaking when the front door closes. It occurs to me that she thinks her parents are home and not Jake as she begins pulling at me to get up.

"Clare it's okay it's just Jake," I assure her.

"Clare it's me, Mom and Dad are still at the cabin," Jake tells her putting his hand on her arm and she lets out a breath.

"She fell asleep and woke up when she heard you come in," I tell Jake.

"Let's get you to bed," Jake says.

"Goodnight Clare," I smile giving her a soft kiss and she smiles back.

I watch them walk upstairs and then get ready for bed; I turn off the TV but lie awake for a while. After what Jake told me earlier and how Clare reacted when she thought her parents were home I can't stop thinking of what might have happened to Clare. What on earth could her parents have done to her to not only scare her voice away but make her so frightened of her parents?

 **(CLARE)**

"Clare if the house is too clean Mom and Dad will suspect something," Jake says catching my arm as I begin to scrub the kitchen counter.

I grab the chalkboard from the kitchen counter. **What if they already know everyone is over?** I write and then erase it as soon as Jake has read it to write again. **If they think people were over we'll get in trouble.**

"They won't know anything Clare I promise, just relax if you're really jumpy then they will suspect something," Jake tells me.

I nod and we hear a car in the driveway. I put the sponge back and run to the washroom to wash my hands. I come out and sit with Jake on the sofa, he just turned on the TV and it looks like that's what we've been doing.

"Hello kids how was your weekend?" Mom asks when they walk in.

"Fine we watched a lot of movies, did homework that was pretty much it," Jake replies.

"Good, we're going to unpack and shower then I'll order some dinner," Mom comments. Jake says okay and we stay watching TV silently until we're certain they're in the shower.

"I told you it would be okay. They're already going back to their selfish lives and barely paying attention to what we do," Jake comments and I nod.

We keep watching TV until Dad comes down and tells us to turn it off. He orders take-out and tells us to set the table. Over dinner they talk about the cabin and work. After dinner I go upstairs and take a shower. When I get into my room I find a text from Fitz on my phone.

 **Fitz: Just thinking about you.**

I smile and get warm all inside just thinking about him as I type a reply. **Clare: I'm smiling because I'm thinking of you.**

 **Fitz: I always smile when I think of you. Are your parents home yet?**

 **Clare: Yeah they got home a couple of hours ago. They don't know anything about you all being here this weekend. We had dinner together and that was it. I wish you were here again I felt so much better with you here.**

 **Fitz: I wish I was there too. Maybe this weekend you can stay at my house.**

 **Clare: I would love that but I don't think even Jake can tell my parents something that would let me stay the night.**

 **Fitz: I'm pretty sure we can think of something. Even if you can't stay the night you could come over and hang out this weekend. Maybe you can hang out this week after school but I start work this week.**

 **Clare: I'll talk to Jake and they do know I'm tutoring you we just won't tell them I'm at your house.**

Fitz replies with a smiley face. We talk by text for almost two hours but when I hear my parents in the hall I quickly hide the phone.

"We're going to bed now Clare, you have school tomorrow you should get to bed too," Mom insists. I just nod, I don't want to argue I'm still worried that they'll find out Fitz and the others were over this weekend. Mom kisses the top of my head and goes to her room closing my door. When I hear her back in her room I get my phone again to text Fitz.

 **Clare: Mom came in to say goodnight. I should probably get to bed though. I'll see you at school tomorrow.**

 **Fitz: Goodnight Ethereal Eyes.**

I smile at the nickname and my heart flutters as I text him back. **Clare: Goodnight My Knight.**

I put my phone back and fall asleep happy and dream of Fitz, no nightmares for me tonight. I wake up when Mom knocks on my door and tells me to get ready for school. I get up with a smile, looking forward to school, to seeing my friends and especially my boyfriend.

"You look quite happy this morning Clare," Mom comments when I come downstairs for breakfast.

 **I'm looking forward to school. I'm actually challenged at this school.** I write on the chalkboard so she doesn't know I'm happy because of Fitz and my friends.

"Well that is a good thing," Mom says slowly like she doesn't really mean it and I'm sure she doesn't.

I nod and get cereal for breakfast just as Jake comes downstairs. Dad says goodbye and leaves as we're eating breakfast and Mom leaves when we're done eating. Jake and I put our dishes in the dishwasher and leave for school. Jake parks and we start walking into school but when Jake sees Katie on the steps he grins wide. He looks so happy just seeing her and it's the same kind of happy that I feel when I even think of Fitz.

"Morning Clare," Katie smiles at me, "Good morning Mr. Fix-it," Katie grins at Jake.

 **Mr. Fix-it?** I type on my phone arching my eyebrow at my brother.

"Uh you should go find Fitz," Jake says scratching the back of his head uncomfortably.

I grin and walk inside laughing silently at the nickname. I begin walking to my locker and see Fitz and Bianca in the hall. Fitz is talking to Bianca and he has his back to me so she sees me first. When Bianca waves to me Fitz looks over. He grins when he sees me and I smile because of the way he's looking at me.

"Good morning Ethereal Eyes," Fitz grins and pulls me into his arms to greet me with a tender kiss. He keeps his arms around me after we break the kiss.

"So no problems with your parents?" Bianca asks and I shake my head.

"I start work tonight, five to ten, so I was thinking we could go to The Dot after school so you could tutor me," Fitz says.

 **Sure that's fine.**

"So how are you guys liking the apartment?" Owen asks coming over to us.

"It feels nice to be able to sleep and not worry that my auntie is bringing home some guy that will try and rape me," Bianca replies.

"Yeah having my own room and not being worried about Steve or Rudy," Fitz agrees.

"I definitely slept better knowing you two were safe and I wouldn't come to school to find Fitz with bruises or Bianca with some horror story about a prick," Owen remarks.

"Yeah we're glad too," Drew comments as he and Adam walk over.

After a few minutes of talking we all visit our lockers, they come with Adam and I to our lockers and we follow them to theirs. We hang out until the bell then Fitz. Adam and I walk to Media Studies which is our homeroom. I enjoy school, the classes are enjoyable and challenging, for the most part the people are nice and I get to spend many hours with my friends and boyfriend. The school day seems to go all too fast and when school lets out Fitz and I walk down to The Dot. Fitz orders two milkshakes and some food for himself since I'm not hungry. We sit at a table and begin doing our homework; I take his math homework and simply it for him so he can do it. While he's working the problem I do my own homework.

"I would never understand this without you you're amazing," Fitz grins when he finishes his math homework and I smile. Fitz gives me a soft kiss and I melt into it. I didn't know it was possible to feel this good or that one single person could be the cause of it. We go back to homework until Fitz has to get ready for work. "I'll see you tomorrow Ethereal Eyes," he grins before kissing me goodbye.

 **See you tomorrow My Knight.**

Fitz goes in the back and I text Jake to pick me up. Jake pulls up just as Fitz comes out of the back wearing an employee t-shirt and an apron. I wave to Fitz and leave, Jake drives us home and Mom isn't home yet.

"It really is nice to see you so happy," Jake says as we start walking upstairs. I take my phone out and stop before going into my room.

 **It's nice to feel this happy I didn't think it was possible. I've never felt this way. He makes me feel good, and beautiful and safe. I like having friends and feeling normal, well other than not talking.**

"You don't need to talk and you are normal and beautiful and I'll make sure you stay safe. So will Fitz, Owen, Drew, Adam and Bianca," Jake assures me.

I smile at him but when we hear Mom unlocking the door we quickly duck into our rooms. I text Fitz to wish him good luck at work and tell him I'm thinking about him. I'm happy, I'm really happy and for the first time since so long ago I can hardly remember it I am excited about life and the future and I'm happy to be me. Not even my parents can ruin this feeling, I won't let them.

 **The update next Sunday will probably begin by jumping ahead to Thanksgiving, which remember is at the beginning of October in Canada.**

 **Sadly there is no chapter tomorrow night because of work conflicts I simply will not have time. Tomorrow should be the only skipped chapter and after this week work should calm down since we'll be done with yearend wrap up stuff.**


	9. Tryin' To Get Your Message Through

**Everyone head to tomfeltonlover1991's page on the DeGrassi Saviors website and vote in her poll. She needs help deciding on a plot for a DeGrassi & 5 Seconds of Summer crossover. You can vote as many times as you like so keep voting.**

 **Ch. 9 Living In Another World Tryin' To Get Your Message Through**

 **(CLARE)**

"Here her dress is in there and everything she'll need for tonight and tomorrow morning. Our parents are at a party tonight they'll be home very late since the party is in London. I'll make it look like she's sleeping and then tell them she left early," Jake tells Fitz handing him my overnight bag.

It's Friday morning and tonight is the homecoming game and dance. I'm of course attending both with Fitz and then sleeping at his apartment tonight. Jake is attending with Katie but he'll sleep at home tonight. We arrived at school a few minutes ago and waited for Fitz and Bianca to arrive before going into the school so that we could put my bag in their car.

"Thanks," Fitz smiles locking the bag in the trunk and then we all walk into school together.

Jake leaves us to go find Katie as soon as we're inside. Bianca, Fitz and I walk to their lockers. Fitz and Bianca open their lockers and start getting out books and Owen joins us. He starts getting stuff from his locker and they all come with me to mine where we find Adam and Drew. Bianca greets Drew with a kiss and I hug Adam before opening my locker.

"You excited about the dance tonight?" Owen asks.

"I love dances," Adam smiles.

 **I don't know how to dance.** I type on my phone after closing my locker.

"Don't worry I'll show you dancing is easy," Fitz assures me and I smile.

The entire day the whole school seems to be excited about the game and the dance. It's just about all anyone talks about and the school is totally done up in the school colors, there are banners, posters and balloons. When school lets out Owen and Drew leave for the locker room and I walk out to the bleachers with Adam, Fitz and Bianca. I see Jake and Katie in the stands and I wave to them. The cheerleaders are cheering and the band is playing, there's excitement in the air, more than for a normal game. I watch Drew and Owen and clap for them but mostly I enjoy being with my boyfriend and friends. DeGrassi wins and the DeGrassi students go crazy, screaming and cheering, jumping up in the stands. Several students including Bianca run out to the field to congratulate the players. The band starts playing a victory march and people are dancing and hooting for DeGrassi. The dance starts in an hour so most of the girls begin to filter into the school to get ready.

"Hey Clare you want to get ready with us?" Jenna asks coming over with Alli. Bianca's still making out with Drew on the field so I nod.

"I'll get your bag from the car," Fitz says.

We walk with Fitz and he gives me the overnight bag with my dress. I follow Jenna and Alli into the school and the washroom which is already crowing up with girls changing into their dresses. I've never been to a dance before so after I put on my dress and shoes I start to leave the washroom but Jenna and Alli stop me and insist on doing my hair and makeup. They pull my hair back and pin it up and put some makeup on me, not too much but it's still more makeup than I've ever worn. When I leave the washroom I find Bianca about to come in.

"Hey you look great. The boys are changing, you can stash your bag in your locker and we'll get it after the dance," Bianca tells me and I nod.

Jenna and Alli also have bags to put in their lockers and we walk together. I put my bag in my locker and then I text Fitz to tell him I'm ready. He says to wait by the auditorium entrance and he'll be there in a few minutes so I do. Jenna and Alli are waiting for their boyfriends too but Fitz shows up first. He's wearing the same black jeans he wore to school but he has on a white dress shirt and a suit jacket.

"You look gorgeous," Fitz smiles when he sees me.

 **You look handsome.**

He smiles and kisses my cheek before offering me his arm. He gives our tickets to the kids taking tickets at the door and we walk into the dance. It's decorated with streamers and balloons in the school colors. Fitz puts his arm around me and we walk over to Jake and Katie.

"You look beautiful Sis," Jake says and I smile.

"Hey guys," Adam greets us.

 **You look very nice.** I type on my phone and show it to Adam.

"Thanks you look great. The football team is getting ready to come in and Bianca should be here in a moment," Adam tells us.

"You called," Bianca smiles putting her arm around Adam's shoulders.

Suddenly the music stops and Coach Armstrong announces the football team and they all walk in. Everyone cheers and claps for them, the coach says a few more words and then the music starts back up. Owen and Drew come join us and Jake and Katie go to the dance floor. We talk a few moments and then Adam asks Anya to dance. The rest of us go to the refreshments table and then sit on the bleachers.

"You want to dance?" Fitz asks after we've eaten a little and he's disposed of our trash. I bite my lip because I don't know how to dance, never been to one and my parents never took me anywhere there was dancing. "It's easy come on, I lead and you follow," Fitz says standing up and offering me his hand.

I take his hand and we go out to the dance floor. I look around at the other girls; most of them seem to have their arms around the necks of their guys so I do the same. Fitz puts his hands on my waist and we just sort of sway back and forth to the music. I'm not sure this is actually dancing but I do like being so close to Fitz and having him hold me. Our eyes stay locked and I smile at him the whole time. After the slow song is a fast one, this is a bit harder to dance to and when I look around at everyone it seems like everyone is doing their own thing and dancing in their own way. Fitz lets go of my waist but takes my hands, I follow his lead and we dance. We spend a lot of the night dancing; I enjoy dancing the more I do it. The dance ends at eleven, we say goodnight to our friends and talk with Owen and Adam for a bit while Bianca and Drew share a very long kiss goodbye. Then I leave with Fitz and Bianca to go to their place.

"Do you need anything?" Fitz asks when we're in his apartment and he's locked the door.

 **I'm not tired can we watch a movie or something?**

"Sure," he grins, "let's get ready for bed first."

Bianca says goodnight and Fitz and I get ready for bed. When I come out to the living room I see he has pillows and blankets so he can sleep on the sofa tonight, he said he was giving me his bed. Fitz turns on the TV and we find something to watch, I cuddle up to him and he puts his arm around me.

 **Tonight was fun I love dancing with you.** I type on my phone during a commercial.

"I love dancing with you too," he smiles kissing me gently.

 **I love being with you, I always feel so good when I'm with you.**

Fitz smiles and kisses me again. When I start falling asleep on Fitz he says it's time for bed. He kisses me goodnight and I go back to his room. I fall asleep as soon as I'm in his bed and have happy dreams all night of me and Fitz.

 **(JAKE)**

"I need your help getting the table ready son," Dad says knocking on my bedroom door Thanksgiving morning.

I get my shoes on and go down to the garage to help him get the leaf in. It's usually only the four of us for any holidays except on the rare occasion that the grandparents come out or we visit them. We always put the leaf in the table at Thanksgiving though so we can put the good table cloth on the table and Mom always makes a ton of food, I also eat a ton of food.

Dad and I get the leaf in the table and I start chopping veggies for the salad when the doorbell rings. Dad answers it and I look over when I hear him walk in with someone. It's Uncle Norman and I've never given him much thought but since finding that note from him about Clare's treatment I'm suspicious of him and now he's here. He's come to holidays before of course as he's the only relative that lives close but he doesn't come often and I've never paid much attention before.

"Hello Jake," Uncle Norman says giving me a smile. Clare sees him now and she freezes and then begins shaking slightly. "Hello Clare," Uncle Norman smiles at her. She was tossing vegetables in oil to roast them but she's just frozen now and chewing her lower lip so much I think she's going to bite through it.

"Kids aren't you going to greet your uncle," Mom snaps at us. "Hello Norman glad you could make it," Mom smiles at him.

"Me too, how have you been feeling Clare? You've grown a lot since the last time I saw you," Norman says approaching Clare and she shrinks away from him.

"Clare finish those vegetables please. You boys can get the table set," Mom says.

I get the table set while dad and Norman sit down to watch the game. I watch Clare closely; she has been so happy these last few weeks. Having friends, school that challenges her, a boyfriend and a social life, she's begun to open up, to be happy and normal. Of course she was always sullen and more like her old self around our parents but I knew it was because if they became too suspicious they'd keep her in the house more and watch her more closely. But now just seeing Norman seems to have sent her back the shy frightened girl she had been for the last eleven years. She has this fear in her eyes and this look of shame or something, I'm not really sure. She's barely moving, she's gone quiet it's like she wants to disappear.

I've seen this from her before, this is how she always used to be and I just thought it's who she was. I mean I knew she wasn't as timid or quiet as she was around Mom and Dad because I would talk to her. She's always come to me after nightmares and stuff but in the last few weeks she's totally come out of her shell and been this new happy person. All it took was to see Uncle Norman and she's regressed back to that quiet, timid, scared little girl.

 **I need to shower.** Clare writes on the chalkboard as soon as she's done with the vegetables.

"Alright Clare but don't take too long it's Thanksgiving this is family time," Mom replies.

Clare pretty much runs up the stairs. After a few minutes I hear the shower come on. It runs for a while and then I hear it turn off and I hear her bedroom door close.

"Where is that girl? How long does it take to get dressed? I guess I better go check on her, help her get dressed," Mom huffs when Clare doesn't come back downstairs after half an hour.

"I'll check on her Mom I need to get dressed anyway," I tell her. Mom just nods and I go upstairs and opening Clare's door. "It's me," I call in as I open the door so she knows I'm coming. She's still wrapped in her robe, huddled on her bed and sobbing. "What is it Clare?" I ask sitting on the bed and putting my arm around her.

 **I don't want to be here. I want to go to Fitz's.**

"Is it Uncle Norman?" I question but I know it is. Clare nods and curls up a little more. "I can't sneak you out to Fitz's place now they'll get suspicious. Sit next to me at dinner and I'll sneak you over to Fitz's tonight after our parents have gone to bed. You can stay the night and come to school with them in the morning. Get dressed and come downstairs or Mom will come up looking for you. I'm going to get dressed in my room, wait for me and we'll go down together."

Clare nods and I leave her room closing the door behind me. I change into darker jeans and a nicer flannel which I button up. I wait in the hall for Clare to emerge from her room. She wears a long black skirt and a white blouse with roses embroidered on it. I'm sure Mom picked out her clothes earlier. Clare goes into the washroom and brushes her hair then we go downstairs together. Dinner is almost ready and Mom is upstairs dressing, Clare stays as far from Uncle Norman as she can and I make sure we sit together at the table.

"So Clare how is this new school?" Uncle Norman asks her when she starts eating.

 **Great I love it.** She writes on the chalkboard.

"It's not too challenging? What about the kids?"

 **It's nice to be finally challenged and the kids are nice.**

"How are the nightmares Clare? Your parents said you were having nightmares again," Uncle Norman comments and Clare shakes her head.

"Clare don't lie we know you've been having nightmares," Dad says.

"We can put you on medication again," Uncle Norman says and Clare shakes her head vigorously.

"She doesn't need medication she's fine, better than she's been in years. She's had a couple of bad dreams it doesn't mean she needs medication," I speak up.

"We're just concerned for her Jake, Clare has special needs her anxiety disorder is severe and she could have a break if we don't keep an eye on her," Uncle Norman says.

"She doesn't…" I begin to argue in a sharp voice but Clare grabs my hand under the table. "She's doing great she doesn't need to be closely monitored, she's not a little kid she's a young adult," I tell them but keep my voice calm and soft.

"Well of course she is we just want what's best for her," Mom tells me.

"Did they tell you I have a girlfriend?" I ask to get the attention off of Clare.

Clare eats a little and no one else asks her questions for the rest of dinner. Uncle Norman does have three glasses of wine with dinner. We all clean up after dinner and then sit down for dessert and Uncle Norman has two cocktails with dessert. After dessert Clare goes upstairs to use the washroom and we start cleaning up from dessert. Dad and Uncle Norman make themselves drinks and go outside. I go up to my room to call Katie but my window is slightly open and I hear Dad and Uncle Norman talking below it, they're talking about Clare so I set down my phone and listen.

"Any progress with her speech?" Uncle Norman asks Dad quietly.

"She hasn't talked," Dad replies. It's odd the way he says it though it's not like he's said or worried that she hasn't talked. No it's more like he's certain she hasn't spoken and he's not just happy but comforted by this. His reaction only assures me that he and Mom not only know why she stopped talking but they are the cause and I'm certain Uncle Norman is in on it whatever it is.

"Do you think she needs further treatment? It has been a few years since the last one," Uncle Norman says.

"If she doesn't now I know she will. I think we should have some medication on hand too just in case," Dad comments.

"I have some with me I'll leave some."

"Good you know you've had a lot to drink, maybe you shouldn't drive back to Kingston tonight. And if you're here while Clare has a nightmare all the better," Dad says.

I send a quick text to Katie saying Happy Thanksgiving and I'm thinking about her and then I go into Clare's room. I know she's in there because I never heard her go back downstairs.

"Stay in your room I'll tell Mom and Dad that dinner isn't sitting well with you and you're lying down. Uncle Norman is staying the night," I'm saying and Clare looks frightened again and grabs her chalkboard to write.

 **We won't be able to sneak out! I want to be with Fitz. Not SAFE!** She writes furiously on her chalkboard as she begins to shake and tear up.

"We will we can go out the window in my room. I promise you I will get you to Fitz and keep you safe. Just stay in your room and stay quiet okay?"

Clare nods and I leave her room, I go downstairs mostly to keep an eye on the adults. Everyone has work or school in the morning so I'm shooed up to my room at ten. I get ready for bed and then go check on Clare, she's made it look like she's sleeping but I know she's awake. I wait until midnight and when I'm certain the adults are asleep I go into Clare's room. She's awake, dressed in jeans, tennis shoes and a sweatshirt with a t-shirt underneath. Her backpack is packed and ready and I bring her into my room opening the window.

"I'll go first, watch me and then climb down. The trellis is right below my window it will hold you but wait until I'm down first."

Clare nods and I climb down, she watches me then swings her leg out the window and starts climbing down. When she's close enough to me I reach up and lift her down. We run through the back yard and to my truck and I start it then drive as fast as I can to Fitz's place. We go up to their apartment and I bang on the door, in hindsight I probably should have called first but I guess Clare might have texted.

"FITZ IT'S JAKE OPEN UP!"

 **Again sorry for the short chapter but Sundays but it was another busy Sunday. The update next Sunday will pick up from here in Fitz's pov as tries to figure out what's wrong. I may also jump ahead to Halloween and some sexy Flare fun in that chapter.**


	10. All You Seem to do is Cry

**This last week was just crazy at work but thankfully it's done now and I'm back.**

 **Before we get started some DeGrassi Saviors website news~**

 **1) Check the home page for two new features. Three ship polls and part one of a part series of "If DeGrassi Characters Were" lists. The first list is "If DeGrassi Characters Were Other TV Characters"**

 **2) Check out dragonsprits page for announcements, updates and clues for his stories.**

 **3) Head to tomfeltonlover1991's page for a poll to help her decide on a crossover for DeGrassi and 5 Seconds of Summer. The poll is currently tied and is staying up one more week so get those votes in.**

 **Now onto tonight's chapter!**

 **Ch. 10 All You Seem to do is Cry**

 **(FITZ)**

I'm jolted awake by pounding on the door and I jump out of bed.

"FITZ IT'S JAKE OPEN UP!" He yells pounding on the door again.

"What's wrong?" I question opening the door to let them in. Clare comes in and clings to me, her arms tightly around my waist and I wrap my arms around her. "What happened?"

"My uncle," Jake says while he closes the door, "he came to Thanksgiving a…" Jake stops when Clare clings to me even tighter and begins sobbing and shaking her head vigorously on my chest.

"What's going on?" Bianca yawns coming out of her room with a robe on. She only sleeps in an old Dead Hand tour t-shirt so she put the robe on because Jake is here.

"Clare's staying the night, something happened," I tell her.

"Uh come on Clare I'll draw you a hot bath while the boys talk," Bianca says walking over and taking Clare's hand.

Clare nods and little and goes with Bianca to the washroom. I get Jake some water and we sit down on the sofa.

"So what happened?"

"My uncle came to dinner, the one I told you about. I didn't know he was coming but when Clare saw him she was terrified. She wouldn't talk about it but I knew she was petrified of him. She went to her room after dessert, we both did and I was going to call Katie but I heard my dad and uncle Norman talking in the backyard. Uncle Norman asked Dad if there was any progress with Clare's speech. Only he wasn't concerned about it at least not the way he should be. Dad said she hasn't talked but the way he said it too it was more like he was certain she'd never talk and he was happy about it. Uncle Norman asked if she needed another treatment and Dad wanted him to leave medication for her. The whole thing was just weird and I was creeped out about it. Clare wanted to come here the moment she saw Uncle Norman but I couldn't sneak her over until now. Guess I should have called first, didn't mean to wake you up or all your neighbors," Jake apologizes.

"It's fine you're both welcome over here any time. I'll make you both keys so you don't have to bang on the door next time. She's safe here I'd never let anything happen to her," I assure Jake.

"Yeah I know. I don't know what my parents are up to or what they did to Clare and until I know I can't do anything about it. But I don't want her to be home, especially if they're trying to put her on medication again. I honestly don't know any more what my parents are capable of but I know they're hiding something and I'm more certain than ever that Clare's mutism is because of them. I'm going to figure it out," Jake tells me with a determined tone.

"We'll help all of us. Do you want to stay the night too?" I offer.

"Thanks but no I should get back, I'll need to cover for Clare in the morning. I'll see you at school tomorrow, tell Clare I went home and I'll see her tomorrow," Jake says standing up.

I walk him to the door and lock it after he leaves. Then I walk to the washroom and softly knock on the door. I hear Bianca ask Clare if I can come in and then a second later Bianca opens the door so I guess I can come in. Clare is sitting in the bath her knees drawn to her chest and her arms around them.

"How is she?"

"Scared of something she's barely moved she's just been sitting like that and tears roll down her cheeks every few minutes," Bianca tells me and then kneels down by Clare. "Fitz is here he'll take care of you unless you want me to stay?" Bianca asks.

Clare shakes her head and looks up to smile at Bianca, she smiles back at Clare and touches my arm as if to wish me luck before she leaves the room. I sit down and carefully place my hand on Clare's back; she gives me a little smile before biting her lip and then looks away again.

"Clare your uncle did he ever touch you?" I question because a girl that can't speak wouldn't be able to stop a molester and if he's been doing it her whole life it could explain why she went mute to begin with.

Clare just looks at me with her eyebrows arched together in confusion and I realize how the question could be confusing. After all she's been kept from the world so long she probably doesn't know what molestation is.

"Of course he's touched you he's your uncle I mean had he ever touched you somewhere he shouldn't? Has he ever touched you while you were undressed or partially undressed or forced you to touch him while he was partially undressed?"

Clare shakes her head and by the look in her eyes I know at least her uncle hasn't been molesting her.

"Then why are you so frightened of him?" I inquire.

Clare looks away from me again and she tightens up, curling into a tighter ball. She starts rocking back and forth and shaking, trembling with fear. She's sobbing so hard it's making her breathing labored.

"Clare what is it? What did he do?" I ask but she just begins shaking her head vigorously. "Clare talk to me please, you're safe here," I assure her but she just starts thrashing in the bath. It's like she's being attacked by some invisible force or some memory. It's causing her pain, I can see it on her face but still she doesn't cry out. "Okay you don't have to talk about it. Don't even think about it okay you're safe I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you," I assure her as I rub her back gently. It takes a moment but she stops shaking and slowly uncurls and now I can see her naked body. "I'll get you a towel and one of my shirts to sleep in," I tell her. I go out to the linen closet and grab her a towel, when I return to the washroom she's out of the bath and standing there naked! "Oh my you're…here's a towel and I should go and get you a shirt to uh sleep in," I stumble over my words and can't really take my eyes from her naked body.

Clare smiles and bites her lip taking the towel. I don't really want to leave I want to keep looking at her naked body but that's not a very gentlemanly thing to do so I force myself to leave. I go to my room and grab her one of my shirts I open the washroom door without going in and hand her the shirt. I lean against the wall and a moment later she opens the door and switches off the light.

"Come on you'll sleep in my bed and I'll sleep on the sofa," I tell her grabbing her purse from the washroom. I take her to my room and she gets in my bed. "You know most girls would have pushed me out of the washroom and not let any guy in when they were naked," I comment giving her purse to her. She takes her phone out to type on it and it occurs to me that if she's going to be here a lot I should probably get a some little chalkboards like she has at her house.

 **Why? You're not my brother you're my boyfriend and I feel good when I'm with you. When you look at me I feel beautiful and important. I don't mind if you see me naked because I like the look in your eyes when you look at me and I trust you. I know you'd never hurt me Mark.**

"Never," I smile. "And you are beautiful and important to me and also smart, and amazing, and sweet," I tell her and she grins. "Anyway I should get to bed we have school tomorrow. I'll be right on the sofa if you need me."

I start to get up but she grabs my hand. **Sleep in here please I want you with me.**

"Of course I'll sleep in here," I grin.

I turn off the light and get in the bed. Clare rolls onto her side and curls up to me, I put my arm around her stroking her back until she falls asleep. My alarm goes off first the next morning and we both wake up. When we're dressed and ready we all go in my car since Bianca's car won't start, thankfully she doesn't work until this weekend and I'm sure that Drew, Owen and I can get it working before she needs to go to work, maybe Eli would even help he's pretty good with cars. I park at the school and then we all walk to The Dot for breakfast.

"Must have been an eventful Thanksgiving you guys look tired," Spinner comments when he sees us walk in.

"Just a late night," I tell him before ordering.

We eat there and finish the coffee while walking back to school. We walk up just as the Torres brothers are getting dropped off and we wait for them. Drew greets Bianca with a kiss and she tells him her car wouldn't start this morning. He tells her we'll get it working this weekend before she has work.

 **I saw Jake's truck I want to go find him and make sure our parents don't know I was gone last night.**

"Okay I'll come with you," I tell her and look at the others, "we'll see you guys inside."

"We're coming," Adam says.

We go inside and Clare easily finds Jake since he's right inside with Katie. He comes over and hugs her and Katie waves to us.

"Uncle Norman is gone, he left Mom with some pills to give you though," Jake informs Clare and she begins shaking just a little. If she wasn't holding my hand I probably wouldn't know she was shaking. What is visible is she's biting her lip and shaking her head. "Don't worry I'll go home at lunch and switch the pills I won't let them medicate you again. Fitz are you working after school?"

"Yeah five to close," I nod, "Clare can tutor me there after school."

"Good," Jake says.

"She can come to my house after that we have all of our classes together you can tell your parents we have a project. She can stay for dinner and Drew and I will bring her back late. If your parents don't like that idea they can talk to our mom," Adam says and Drew snickers because few people are willing to stand up to Audra.

"Thanks I'm going to watch Katie play soccer after school but I'll be home before you and I'll switch the pills at lunch," Jake assures his sister.

 **Are Mom and Dad going to send me to Uncle Norman's hospital again?** Clare types on her phone and shows it to Jake.

"No never again as long as I can help it," he says in a determined voice and Clare nods. Then Jake looks at me, "Fitz can I talk to you a minute?"

"Yeah sure," I nod and Clare lets go of my hand.

"Come on Clare let's go to our lockers," Adam says putting his arm around her lightly. Jake tells Katie he'll see her in class and they share a kiss before she walks away.

"Any problems last night?" Jake questions.

"I asked if your uncle had molested her but she said no but when I asked what he did do she flipped out. She started thrashing in bath and shaking and sobbing. I got her to calm down but she wanted me to sleep with her last night, all we did is sleep though I swear I was going to sleep on the sofa like I normally do."

"Fitz it's cool I know you'd never hurt Clare or force her into anything. She feels safe with you if she wanted you to sleep in the bed it's because you make her feel safe. I heard Norman and my parents talking early this morning they were talking again about sending her for more treatments. Spring is always hardest on her and it's when she's always gone for treatments usually early in March but sometimes late in February. If I really think they're going to send her to the hospital again I want her to hide at your place. Not just for a night I mean you might have to protect her from my parents," Jake says.

"I'll protect from anyone or anything that tries to hurt her."

 **(ADAM)**

"How was your Thanksgiving?" I ask Clare when we get to our lockers but she only responds with a shrug.

We take our books, close our lockers and walk to class. Sav and Holly J are hanging posters in the hall for the Halloween dance.

"Are you and Fitz going to the dance? It will just be in the evening but usually there's an after party at Above the Dot," I comment as we sit at our desks.

 **Yeah sounds like fun. I guess we need costumes.**

"We can go out this weekend and get some," I tell her and she smiles.

Fitz comes in just before the bell and sits at his desk. We watch a movie in class and we don't even get any homework. Fitz walks with us to math and kisses Clare at the door before he goes to auto shop. We spend lunch with Fitz, Drew, Bianca and Owen of course and we all talk about the Halloween dance. We decide our costumes should all fit together since we'll all be going as one group. Fitz is actually working the party at Above the Dot but he assures Clare that Spin will let him dance with her. After lunch we all go to photography and after that Clare and I have geography.

"Hey are you guys going to the Halloween dance?" Jenna asks walking into class with Dave, K.C. and Alli.

"Yeah the six of us are going to find costumes that work together," I tell them.

"Jenna and I are going as belly dancers," Alli says and Dave smiles probably at the thought of the two girls dressed as belly dancers I'm sure he has in his head.

"Dave and I are thinking of going as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker," K.C. tells me.

"No you won't, I am not dancing with a Star Wars character," Alli shakes her head but they can't argue about it any longer as the teacher has come in.

When the last bell of the day rings Clare and I leave class and meet Fitz on the steps. Owen and Drew have football and Bianca is going to watch them practice but Fitz, Clare and I walk to The Dot. She tutors him in math and I get started on my own homework. They work for about an hour and half before Fitz has to go back and get ready for work. Clare kisses him goodbye and we walk to my house.

"Mom Clare and I have homework is it okay if she stays for dinner?" I ask when Clare and I walk through the front door.

"Sure that's fine, if you need a snack I stocked the basement kitchen this morning," Mom says.

"Sweet you're the best," I grin.

Clare smiles at my mom and we go downstairs, we grab a snack and work on our homework. Drew calls to say he's eating at Owen's and then Owen will bring him home. Since it's just Clare and I Mom lets us eat in the basement and we watch TV. Dad is working late on a big case so Mom leaves to take him dinner. When Clare and I are done eating I take our dishes upstairs and when I return to the basement she's not there. At first I think she's in the washroom but the door is open.

"Clare?" I call to her and then feel stupid because it's not like she's going to answer.

I look outside but I don't see her and the sliding glass door is closed. I turn around to walk to alcove when I see her in the kitchenette. She's curled into a ball and rocking back and forth as she sobs.

"Clare what is it? What's the matter?" I question but she won't even look at me. I have no idea what to do here, no idea how to help her and if Mom comes back and finds Clare like this she's going to call Clare's Mom. The only thing I can think to do is call Jake so that's what I do. "Something's wrong with Clare and I don't know what to do. I went upstairs for a minute and she was fine but when I came back down she was huddled in the kitchen. She's sobbing and holding herself, she won't even look at me," I tell Jake in a slight panic as soon as he answers.

"I'm on my way," Jake tells me and hangs up.

"Jake's coming you're okay," I try to assure Clare but she just keeps rocking and sobbing. A moment later the basement door opens but it's not Jake it's Drew and Owen.

"What's the matter?" Drew asks when he sees my face but they can't see Clare yet.

"I don't know I took our dishes upstairs and when I came back she was like this," I tell them and they come around to look at Clare. "She won't even look at me. I already called Jake because I don't know what else to do."

"Clare it's okay you're safe," Owen tells her kneeling down close to her but not touching her.

It doesn't do any good; she's still balled up and rocking back and forth. She won't look up; she doesn't even seem to notice that we're here.

"Clare it's okay you're safe. What is it?" Drew asks. Still nothing, no response, she doesn't look at us or seem to hear us.

"Clare it's okay you're okay," Owen says in a firm voice and touches her arm. I guess his touch does it because she suddenly looks up. She sees that it's us and she bites her lip and looks terribly ashamed. Owen smiles at her, we all do and she wipes her tears.

"It's okay don't worry about it, are you okay?" I ask her and she nods slowly.

"Jake's on his way I didn't know what to do," I tell her.

Clare's not crying anymore but she's still shaking a lot and it's making it hard for her to get up. She doesn't need to tell us though we know she's sorry.

"Don't be sorry it's fine," I assure her just as the basement door opens and Jake comes in.

"Hey are you okay?" Jake asks and she nods. She holds her hand out and he takes his phone from his pocket giving it to her.

 **I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry everyone.**

"It's okay Clare," I tell her.

"Come on let's go home. I won't tell Mom or Dad anything just stay in your room the rest of the evening," Jake says and Clare nods.

Jake and Owen help her up and I hug her goodbye, Jake gets her stuff and they leave through the basement door, shortly after they leave Mom returns. Owen leaves since he only came over to bring Drew home and neither of us say anything to Mom about what happened with Clare. Just before I got to bed my phone rings and I see that it's Jake.

"Is she okay?" I ask upon answering.

"Yeah I think so; she's in bed and said she was tired. Our parents don't know anything happened. I asked her about it but she wouldn't tell me what scared her she just kept apologizing."

"I wish I knew what happened she was fine when I went upstairs, I was up there maybe three minutes while putting our dishes in the dishwasher. When I came down again she was in the kitchenette hiding behind the counter and curled into a little ball, shaking and sobbing and rocking back and forth. She was so terrified and I have no idea why."

"I wish I knew, she wouldn't tell me anything. She's okay; whatever happened it wasn't your fault Adam, thanks for calling me when you did. We'll see you at school tomorrow."

I say goodbye to Jake and hang up. The next day at school Jake tells me Clare woke up after a bad nightmare and they were awake most of the night. Clare doesn't ever say anything about what happened at my house and she doesn't seem to have any other problems or scares. She does spend a lot of time at my house and Fitz and Bianca's apartment over the next couple weeks. By Halloween she's just excited for the dance and after school we all get ready at my house. Halloween is on a Thursday this year so the dance will only go until seven but Above the Dot has an after party and there is no football practice or homework today.

We wanted our costumes to work together so after a lot of shopping we settled on Disney heroes and heroines. Surprisingly Owen was all for the idea as long as he got to be Ralph from Wreck-it-Ralph. His costume was pretty easy he just needed dark red overalls and a red plaid shirt then he spiked up his hair. Bianca wanted to be Merida from Brave, she already had the right hair she just died it red. Fiona made Bianca a green dress and Eli let her borrow a bow from the prop room and she made herself a belt that holds a quiver and a couple fake arrows. I was going as Woody from Toy Story, it was a pretty easy costume I already had jeans and a yellow plaid shirt I could use. The belt was easy and I found a belt buckle at a thrift store. The cowboy hat, boot and holsters along with the cowhide vest were easy enough to pick up from a costume store. Drew wanted go as Mowgli at first but we were pretty sure he wouldn't be let into the dance wearing nothing but a loincloth. So Bianca convinced him to go as Prince Eric which he already had jeans for and even the boots, he wore a white dress shirt partially unbuttoned and borrowed a red scarf from Mom to use as a belt. His hair wouldn't quite cooperate so we got him a black wig that resembles Eric's hair. Fitz let Clare decide on his costume since he couldn't and she wanted him to be Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. We found a cape pretty easily and a Robin Hood hat we died red. He wore a long sleeve black shirt and we found a grey tunic but he already had a black belt to wear. He also had black boots and wore black jeans rather than leggings. Clare was going as Wendy from Peter Pan. It was pretty easy to do her hair since she just had to curl it a little more and pull it back. Fiona and Imogen helped her make the dress and she found blue ballet slippers.

"You all look wonderful, gather together so I can get a picture," Mom says when we're all dressed.

"Mom we need to go," Drew sighs.

Mom snaps some pictures and we leave for the dance in a few different cars. We walk in together and give our tickets to Mr. Perino at the door. Eli, Imogen and Fiona are all together and we greet them, they gush over the costumes since they helped with a lot of them. Owen goes to see some of the other guys on the football team, Bianca and Clare take their boyfriends to the dance floor and I talk with Eli for a bit. When I leave Eli I walk to the refreshments table and get some punch.

"Looks like we had the same idea," Anya laughs from behind me and then she walks around in front of me and I see that she's dressed like Jessie from Toy Story.

"I guess so; I'm not wearing the same costume as Sav am I?" I question handing her some punch.

"No we broke up last weekend, now he's dating Holly J and they came as Fred and Daphne from Scooby-Doo. It was her idea and Sav looks ridiculous. You on the other hand look great it's as if we planned this. Care to dance?" Anya inquires.

"I'd love to," I grin taking her hand and we walk out to the dance floor.

 **Update next Sunday will pick up with more of the Halloween dance, some intimate time for Flare and a romantic interest for Owen.**


	11. It Feels So Right Now Hold Me Tight

**Before we get started some DeGrassi Saviors website news~**

 **1) There's a new DeGrassi "if" List on the homepage. This one is if DeGrassi Characters were Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age.**

 **2) The ship polls are now closed stay tuned for announcements for the winning shots.**

 **3) The poll on tomfeltonlover's page is also closed the winning story is Maya's band opening for 5 Seconds of Summer.**

 **In other DeGrassi Saviors news check out dragonsprit's story My Self Inflicted Twisted Reality. If you enjoyed Extremes of Leather and Lace you will like this story. Also check out dragonsprit's page for updates and clues.**

 **Onto tonight's story, it's a pretty short chapter. Sorry but it's been an interesting couple of days.**

 **Ch. 11 It Feels So Right Now Hold Me Tight**

 **(OWEN)**

"Where's Adam?" I question returning to the group who is now sitting on the bleachers.

"He's dancing with Anya. She and Sav broke up, he's dating Holly J now and it appears that Adam's Woody costume won some points with Anya," Fitz remarks pointing to Adam and Anya on the dance floor.

"An older woman go Adam," I grin.

After a few dances Adam and Anya join us, the dance is only three hours and we spend a lot of it dancing. There's an after party at Above the Dot and Fitz is working at it so he has to leave a little bit early.

"I have to go and get ready for the after party," he tells Clare, "I'll see you over there and Owen will escort you over there, right?" Fitz asks looking at me.

"Of course I will," I grin at Clare.

Fitz gives her a tender kiss and then he leaves to go clock in. We hang out a few more minutes but then decide to head over to Above the Dot so we're among the first ones in. I stand up and hold my arm out to Clare; she links her arm with mine. Drew walks out with his arm around Bianca, Adam and holds his arm out to Anya and we walk out. Clare sees Jake and Katie as we walk to The Dot and she waves to them. They're dressed as a doctor and a nurse and are walking with Marisol and Mo, Marisol is dressed as Poison Ivy and Mo is Bane. When we get to the stairs for Above the Dot I see three guys lingering near them. They are obviously guys from their build and height but they all wear the same cheap black hooded robes and dark masks that cover everything but their chins so I can't see who they are. My attention is taken from the boys when Spinner comes out of the back of the café with Jane Vaughn. His only costume seems to be a black shirt with a skeleton print on it and she's not in costume at all.

"Yeah I'll stick around, even though I'm not in costume it might be fun," Jane says to him and Spin smiles. He goes up the stairs giving a look to the three boys at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey Jane I thought you were in California," Bianca comments and Jane looks at us.

"I was I've been working my butt off for the last two years and needed a break. School is expensive and I've been taking a lot of classes at first I thought I'd graduate early but I really just burnt out. Anyway I got back a couple of months ago but I've been busy looking for a job and now I have one and needed a night off. Well anyway I knew Spin still ran The Dot so I thought I'd drop by and see what was going on tonight," Jane tells us.

"Cool you should hang out with us tonight. You remember Owen, Drew and Bianca I'm sure," Anya comments.

"Of course it's good to see you all," Jane grins and I swear her eyes linger on me for an extra second as she scans our group. "You all look great in costumes, so Anya and Owen who do you have on your arms?"

"This is Drew's brother Adam, we just happened to dress as Jessie and Woody," Anya tells her.

"And this is Jake's sister Clare, she's new to DeGrassi this year but she's in the same grade as Adam," I explain.

"Cool it's nice to meet you both," Jane grins as we start to go in.

Fitz is behind the bar and Clare goes over to give him a gentle kiss then we all sit down on the sofa and chairs in the back. Jane sits next to me and we start talking, I fill her in on everything that's been going on at DeGrassi and I tell her that Clare is mute so that Jane isn't surprised when Clare doesn't talk and doesn't ask about it. Adam and Anya spend the night dancing and talking. I spend the night talking with Jane; we never leave our spot we just talk. Clare sits with us, spends a bit of time with Jake and all the time she can with Fitz. She's staying at his place tonight, Jake will cover for her. She stays there as much as she can but if I were in her situation I would too. It's still a school night so the club closes at eleven and Spinner starts kicking people out. As people begin to leave Clare goes to use the washroom. The rest of us get up to leave and I see the three guys in dark hoods and masks blocking Clare from coming back to us.

"Hey back off," I bark at them. They look at me and move away so Clare can get through. "You okay?" I ask her and she nods. The three guys in dark hoods and masks leave and we're the last ones in the club.

"I have to help close up but Spin said Clare can hang out with us while we close up so you guys can take off whenever you want," Fitz says coming over to us when everyone else is out of the club.

"Cool see you guys tomorrow," I smile and wave to Fitz and Clare while the rest of us leave.

"My car is here. Are you still on the football team Owen?" Jane asks.

"Yeah so is Drew," I nod.

"Cool if you have a game Friday maybe I'll come watch you play," Jane smiles.

"Uh yeah we do have a game," I grin.

"Great then I'll see you Friday night," Jane says with a wink before getting in her car.

"Hey maybe you and Jane and me and Adam can double next Saturday," Anya comments as we start walking back to school and our cars.

"Double? You want to go on a date with me?" Adam asks her.

"Yeah how about after school tomorrow?" Anya proposes.

"Umm yeah great," he grins while Drew chuckles a little.

"Good then I'll see you tomorrow," Anya smiles kissing his cheek before getting in her car.

"What a Halloween, Adam's got a date with a senior and I think I have a date with the only female football player ever at DeGrassi!"

 **(CLARE)**

"Did you have fun Clare?" Spinner asks as he and Fitz start closing up with the other employees.

 **Yes I did. Can I help close up?**

"Uh sure I guess. Why don't you help Fitz wipe down the counter," Spinner says.

"No don't help, just sit here," Fitz comments lifting me up and setting me on the counter, "and be your beautiful self."

"Well that was a success but I think we should clean more of this tomorrow," a woman remarks coming out of the kitchen. She's tall and slender with blonde hair.

"Yeah we'll just straighten up and finish closing procedures," Spinner replies and kisses her. "Clare this is my wife Emma," Spinner tells me.

"It's nice to meet you Clare Spin's told me about you," she smiles at me.

 **It's nice to meet you too.**

Emma helps them close up and I leave with Fitz walking back to the school and his car. We get in and he drives us to his place. Bianca's already here she was brought home by Drew and Adam. Fitz unlocks the door quietly and we go into his room.

"Do you want me to sleep on the sofa?" Fitz asks and I shake my head. "We should get ready for bed then," he says.

I have a bag here already, after Thanksgiving and Uncle Norman's visit I've been sleeping here quite a bit and Jake's been covering for me at home. He usually gets up early and tells our parents we have to be at school early for something. Because I sleep over so often I always have a bag here and Jake will bring a bag with fresh clothes for me to school. I change for bed and brush my teeth. I wait for Fitz to come in from the washroom and pull him to the bed before he can turn off the light. I roll on my side and pull him to me attaching my lips to his. He rolls on his side, his tongue sliding softly over my lower lip and they part for him. His tongue slips in and swirls around my tongue, my nails rake into the short hairs at the back of his head and scratch gently.

Fitz's hand caresses my arm gently and after a while of making out his hand moves from my arm to my hip. After a moment his fingers pull at my nightshirt, it starts creeping up my body until my panties are exposed although I am under the covers. When his fingertips brush the skin on my belly my muscles tighten and a breath hitches in my throat. My skin tingles slightly and a tickle builds deep in my belly, I have a sudden desire for him to touch me more, to somehow be a part of him and him a part of me. Just as suddenly as this desire comes it ceases when his fingers touch my breasts and my stomach fills with butterflies and fear! Not fear that he'll hurt me but a fear I can't explain or really comprehend. I grab his hand and stop him before he goes any farther; Fitz breaks the kiss and gives me a regretful and sheepish look.

"I'm sorry Clare I didn't mean to go so far, when it comes to girls my hand have a mind of their own," he apologizes.

I smile at his funny apology and he starts to pull his hand out from my nightshirt. I grab his hand again to stop him from withdrawing it completely. I reach over to the nightstand to get the little whiteboard he keeps in here. After I stayed over on Thanksgiving he bought a few small whiteboards with pens that have erasers on the tips and are magnetic so they stick to the board. There's this one in his room, one in the kitchen and one in the living room, I thought it was really sweet that he thought of it.

 **It's okay I liked it but it's a little scary too. Just go slow.**

"We don't have to do anything, I'm more than happy to just kiss you," he tells me.

 **I know but I want you too. I like the feeling when you touch me.**

"When you want me to stop tug gently on my ear, it will be our signal that you've had enough. Tonight and for anything else."

I nod and bite my lip with an anticipating smile. Fitz grins and kisses me softly but briefly. His eyes lock onto mine and his hand drifts up my skin again. Another breath hitches in my throat; I feel gooseflesh on my skin in the wake from the heat of his hand. I release the breath when his hand cups my breast. His hand holds it tenderly, his fingers spread out, he squeezes softly and jolt goes through me! Like a tickle of excited electricity I feel from my lips to the spot between my legs. My body moves on it's own, shifting a little and my belly tightens. I haven't any idea what's going on in my body it's like I've lost control of it all together. This must be what horny is; desire, true carnal and primal desire. I want nothing more than Fitz's touch and to be with him in every way it's possible to do so. Fitz's hand moves from my right breast to my left and his lips attach to mine. I grip the back of his neck, my nails scratching into his hair and I press my body into his. I feel the bulge in his boxers and I know he's turned on too. He gently squeezes my breast and then withdraws his hand and pulls out of the kiss.

"I think we'd better stop there I don't think you're ready to go any farther than that. I'll be right back and then we should get to sleep we have school tomorrow."

He kisses my forehead and gets out of the bed. I release a breath when he's gone and my body relaxes but I still feel that tickle. He returns to the room after a few moments, turns off the light, gets in bed and turns on his side holding me in his arms. I fall asleep after a short time of being in the comfort and solace of his arms. We wake up to his alarm the next morning and we get ready for school. Bianca takes her car and I ride with Fitz. When we get to school I see Jake on the steps and hug him good morning.

"Hey how was your night?" Jake asks.

 **Great. I had a great time at the dance and the party.**

"Good. You'll have to sleep at home tonight," Jake tells me.

 **Can I sleep at Fitz's place this weekend? And when will I be ready for sex?** I type on my phone and show it to my brother and he goes pale for some reason.

"You…what were you…you're not ready for sex," Jake stumbles over his words and then looks at Fitz with a slightly angry look.

"We didn't…I mean just first base but I stopped it there and…you know I'm just going to go in to my locker," Fitz stumbles over his words now. The mention of sex seems to have rendered them both to babbling idiots and I find it funny. Fitz gives me a slightly apologetic look and then runs inside, I look at Jake with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Okay I do trust Fitz with you but I think it's time you got some sex education. Come with me," Jake insists taking my hand and pulling me inside. He finds an empty classroom and we go in, he locks the door and I sit on a desk. "Okay see at this age your body is…" Jake begins and then stops and I arch an eyebrow at him. "I know you like Fitz and no one else has ever cared about you the way he does. I know he really cares about you a lot and I understand wanting to…experience those feelings to their fullest but you are not ready for sex. Or anything except kissing he's your first boyfriend."

 **But if I'm feeling it then how can I not be ready? My body feels ready. Even if it's a little scary, but Fitz really cares about me, and I like when he touches me and how I feel when I'm with him. I love being with him and the sensation of his touch, I want to be a part of him and him a part of me.**

"You just aren't ready, your body is but you aren't just trust me. I know how you feel about Fitz and I'm happy that he makes you feel that way but you need to wait."

 **Why?**

"Because you do. What you feel isn't necessarily what you want and even if it is you need to wait. It's just you don't know anything about sex and if you get pregnant Mom and Dad will…I don't actually want to think about what they'd do."

 **Then teach me about sex.**

"Okay when a guy and a girl like each other…no uh…see your body feels…no umm maybe it's better if you get a female perspective on this. You go to class and I'll see if Katie can help after school when you're done tutoring Fitz."

Jake opens the door and I shrug. I go to my locker and find Fitz talking with Owen but they stop quickly when I approach.

"Hey does Jake want to kill me?" Fitz asks and I shake my head just as the bell rings. "We should get to class see you Owen," Fitz says waving to Owen. Fitz puts his arm around me and we walk to class.

We greet Adam when we get to class and he tells us he has a date with Anya after school. When homeroom ends Fitz walks Adam and I to math. I spend most of math working on exercises for Fitz since I'm ahead in this class. When math lets out Adam stays behind talking with Dave and K.C. about what to do with Anya today. I go to the front doors to wait for the others and hear Jake talking to Katie, when I realize they're talking about me I hide behind a wall and the stairs to the second story.

"You want me to teach your sister sex ed? Doesn't she learn that in school?"

"Not everything just answer her questions you're a girl it will be better coming from you. And no she hasn't before this she was either homeschooled or in a school for special needs kids. They didn't teach sex ed there they taught them to do simple things. Fitz is her first boyfriend they haven't been dating all that long and they've already gone to first base. She's never had anyone care about her like that I just want her to understand what's going on in her body and not go farther than she's ready to."

"Okay bring her over when she's done tutoring Fitz, my parents will be out tonight anyway and I guess it would be good for Maya to hear it too."

"Thanks come on I'll buy you lunch at The Dot for being an amazing girlfriend," Jake says and they walk off.

"So you need some sex education," a male voice laughs and I look behind me to see Fitz's stepbrother Steve and his friend. "We'll give you some sex education," he grins maliciously and pins me to the wall with his arm and running a finger along my cheek. "I heard my moron of a stepbrother telling his moron friend that you don't even make a noise when you're turned on. I bet I can get a noise out of you."

 **Update next Sunday will pick up probably in Fitz's pov from earlier the same day. It will also include Clare's lesson with Katie.**


	12. Beyond the Point of Ever Turning Back

**And we're back…again. I know it's been pretty chaotic and the long stories were back for just a few weeks before going on hold again so I could move. But I did move and long stories are back now and there won't be another short story month or one shot week until July.**

 **May and June calendars have been added to the DeGrassi Saviors website, the mobile calendar will be updated later this week.**

 **I've also added 17 upcoming stories to the list on my profile pages. Yes I was able to plot 17 new stories for us all to look forward to! For now enjoy tonight's chapter.**

 **Ch. 12 Beyond the Point of Ever Turning Back**

 **(FITZ)**

"We didn't…I mean just first base but I stopped it there and…you know I'm just going to go in to my locker," I trip over my words as Jake looks like he wants to kill me because of Clare's question which on her part was entirely innocent.

I kind of flee and go to my locker. I grab the books I need and put away the others; I close my locker and see Owen.

"How was last night?" Owen asks.

"Great, better than great, we were in my bed and kissing and I was touching her. She stopped me but then wanted more, I stopped myself after first base. It felt great and when I was watching her face and I knew she was enjoying it but she never made a sound. Not even exhaling a pleasured breath but by her face I knew she was enjoying it. I mean I know she doesn't ever talk but I kind of thought she'd make some noise, some moan or something."

"Well she was enjoying it anyway and she didn't stop you. I wouldn't worry about it. You think she would have let you continue if you hadn't stopped yourself?"

"Yeah probably, I really wanted to continue it was really hard to stop but I didn't want to push. I don't think she knows what she's ready for. She asked Jake when we got to school when she'd be ready for sex."

"I would have loved to have seen his face," Owen laughs.

"Yeah he looked l…" I stop talking when I see Clare approaching and we both turn to her. "Hey does Jake want to kill me?" I ask Clare and she shakes her head just as the bell rings. "We should get to class see you Owen," I wave to him and put my arm around Clare walking her to class. "Hi Adam," I nod when we get into class and Clare waves to him.

"Hey I have a date with Anya after school," Adam grins.

"Awesome dude, going for the older girl, Anya's sweet I can see you guys together," I smile and Clare types something on her phone showing it to Adam.

Class starts and we look at the teacher. I walk Clare and Adam to math when the bell rings; when I get to vehicle maintenance I greet Owen and Drew. Drew heard a bit about last night but I tell him some more. After class it's lunch and we clean up and then walk toward the front to meet the others and eat. I don't see Clare or Adam but Bianca is here.

"Where's Clare and Adam?" I question.

"I'm not sure, haven't seen them yet," Bianca says.

"Not sure where they are but it looks like your stepbrother is causing some trouble," Drew comments nodding to Steve and his friend crowding around someone.

"That's Clare," I tell them when I recognize the girl's shoes. I start running over and the others follow me, Clare looks frightened and I hear Steve saying something crude. I grab his shoulder and tear him away from Clare while Drew and Owen do the same to his friend. "STAY AWAY FROM HER," I yell at him.

"I just wanted to give her some sex education and make her scream. I heard you say yourself that she didn't make a single sound when you were getting sexy. I bet I can make her make a sound," Steve grins.

"Stay away from my girlfriend I'm not going to tell you again," I command in a stern growl putting my arm around Clare and walking away from them.

We report the incident to Mr. Simpson; it's considered bullying and sexual assault so they both get suspended for two weeks. Clare says she's okay but she's fairly skittish throughout lunch and hardly eats anything. Jake hears about it and he's just happy that Clare wasn't hurt and I protected her without throwing a punch. After lunch we all walk to photography, Clare is paired with Eli for the class project and he manages to make her smile so it's a good thing. When the bell rings I wave to Clare and walk to math, I'm actually beginning to understand the math because Clare has shown me how to break it down into easier problems.

 **I'm going with Jake to Katie's but I made exercises for you. I'll try and come by later to see how you did otherwise I can try and come over tomorrow with Jake's help.** Clare types on her phone showing it to me when school is out.

"That's fine I start work very soon anyway. I'll text you later," I tell her and give her a soft kiss on the cheek.

Clare smiles placing a chaste kiss on my lips before she walks out with Jake. I walk to The Dot and get ready for work then start working on the math exercises Clare gave me before I clock in. Work stays pretty busy so it goes by pretty fast, at least until the early evening when my stepdad comes in.

"What can I get you?" I ask begrudgingly.

"You got my son suspended you little puke," he hisses grabbing me by the collar and slamming me into the counter and holding me down.

"HEY!" Spinner yells coming out from the back. "Let him go and get the hell out of my café," Spinner demands.

"He's my kid I can do whatever the fuck I want with him," Rudy replies with a growling voice.

"He's not your kid and even if he was you couldn't do that. You might be his stepdad but Fitz lives on his own now let him go and get out or I'll get the gun I have behind the counter and shoot you with it. I'd be perfectly within my rights protecting my café and my employees," Spin warns him. Rudy growls but he lets go of me and storms out. "You alright Fitz?" Spinner asks as I stand up.

"Yeah I think so," I nod although my head is spinning a bit.

"You should take your break I'll watch things up here. Go get some ice on that eye. If you feel dizzy or nauseas or anything tell me," Spin says and I nod.

"Yeah thanks, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, but I am going to call the cops and file a report just to be safe," Spinner says.

"Good," I reply before walking back to the breakroom and really hoping my stepdad at least spends a night in jail.

 **(CLARE)**

"I'm going to go get something to eat I'll come pick you up when you're done," Jake tells me dropping me at Katie's after school.

"My mom is at her physical therapy but we've only got about an hour before they get home. Hopefully we'll be done by then," Katie says to Jake as I get out of the car. I wave to Jake and follow Katie into the house, she motions for me to sit at the counter and I do just as her sister comes in. "Clare you remember my sister Maya," Katie says and I smile at the younger girl.

"Hi Clare," Maya grins.

"Jake asked me to talk to Clare about sex and if you want to you can hang out," Katie tells her sister.

"Okay," Maya shrugs.

"Sex is very intimate and should only happen when you're ready and in love, and preferably married," Katie says.

 **But it feels good and my body wants it now.** I type on my phone and show it to Katie.

"Your body might be ready but that doesn't mean that you are ready mentally or emotionally. It wasn't that long ago that girls of your age were getting married and bearing children which is why your body feels ready now. But you're not married and you better not be having children. It feels good but if you have sex too soon it could damage you in other ways not to mention getting pregnant. You have to be sure that you are physically ready as well as emotionally and mentally ready and when you even think you're getting close to being ready you need to be prepared with birth control."

 **How do I know if I'm ready if it already feels good?**

"Well you…" Katie starts and stops, both Maya and I arch our eyebrows at her waiting for her to continue. "Well for one if you're not married make sure you're in love. Truly in love not that you just really like someone. If you wake up thinking of the person, got to bed thinking of them, if you smile when you see them or think of them and just feel better when they are around, if you feel safe with them and their touch makes you feel good you're in love. You should talk to the person you're in love with and agree that you're ready. Never let a boy push you into sex before you're ready."

 **So if I am in love and Fitz is in love with me and we both agree we're ready and we're prepared then we can have sex?**

"Right," Katie nods, "any other questions?"

"A lot but I don't think I want to ask them right now but I know I'm not ready for sex," Maya says.

"Good," Katie sighs with relief.

 **What do we do to the boy? How do we make him feel good?**

"Trust me when you're ready and you're about to have sex the boy will tell you what to do," Katie replies. "My parents will be home soon I think I'd better have Jake pick you up," Katie remarks.

She calls Jake and he picks me up a few minutes later. We go home since Mom will be home soon, we start on what little weekend homework we have but I text Fitz that I'm not sure I can come and I'll see him in the morning. I'm very careful at dinner to be very quiet and well behaved because Mom and Dad are using just about any excuse to try and medicate me. Jake says he switched out the pills for sugar pills but I'm not taking the chance. After dinner I return to my room to finish homework and find a text from Fitz.

 **Fitz: don't worry about it; hopefully you can come over tomorrow. Is everything okay at home?**

 **Clare: As long as I stay quiet and behave they don't worry about trying to medicate me. How's work is it busy?**

 **Fitz: It's been pretty busy all night. I'm on a break but I should probably get back out there. Why don't you text me when you're awake in the morning and try to come to my place.**

 **Clare: I'll text you in the morning, goodnight My Knight.**

 **Fitz: Goodnight Ethereal Eyes.**

I put down my phone and finish my homework, showering before I go to bed. Jake seems to be on the phone with Katie most of the night but he does come in to say goodnight. I sleep wonderfully and dream about me and Fitz. I wake up early and after eating I go down to get breakfast, Mom and Dad are up and Mom makes a comment about me being up early but that's it. They leave just after nine to go run errands and I go upstairs to wake up Jake.

 **Mom and Dad are gone will you take me to Fitz's please?** I write on the chalkboard by his bed and show him as I shake him awake.

"What time is it?" He groans.

 **9:13**

"Okay get out so I can get dressed, maybe I'll see if Katie's awake and I'll leave a note for Mom and Dad that you're working on the play."

I smile and leave his room so he can get dressed and I get dressed. Jake takes me to Fitz's and drops me outside the building.

"I left a note that we were working on the school play, you should probably actually help out on it in case Mom and Dad check. I'll come pick you up later this afternoon," Jake tells me before I get out of the car.

I smile and wave to Jake as I get out of the car. I go up to Fitz and Bianca's apartment and let myself in with my key. Fitz made Jake and I both a key in case we ever needed to come over in the middle of the night again. Fitz and Bianca both seem to be asleep but I sit on the sofa and watch TV until I hear a door opening a few minutes later. I turn off the TV and look back to see Fitz walking sleepily down the hall in boxers, his head is down and he's yawning scratching the back of his head. When he looks up I see that one side of his face is bruised and his eye is swollen slightly. I get off the sofa and run to him, reaching up to touch the bruises with a worried look.

"I'm okay," he assures me kissing the palm of my hand. "Rudy came into The Dot last night upset at me because Steve got himself suspended for harassing you. Spinner threatened to shoot him and we filed a police report. I'm okay it's just a couple bruises. I'm going to make breakfast are you hungry?"

I shake my head but follow him into the kitchen. He starts making breakfast and Bianca comes out. She tells us Drew's birthday is in a couple of weeks and his party will be the following night which is a Friday. They have a game that night so it will be after the game. I just hope my parents are busy or Jake can make excuse for me but I'm sure he can, we're getting pretty good at it.

 **(FITZ)**

"You're surprisingly good at this," Eli comments while I string a rigging for Eli's play.

"Thanks I think."

Clare decided to help out with his play; she's been more comfortable around people and making some new friends. Of course she's also been making the excuse that she's helping out on the play a lot when she's been with me. Jake's been helping by building sets and I've started helping as a stage hand.

Yesterday was Drew's birthday and tonight after the game is his party. The game is in a couple of hours so we're helping out with the play until the game starts. Clare is working on props and she shows Eli some of what she's made, he likes them and tells her she did really well. We watch the kids in the play rehearsing a little before we go find Bianca who's been saving us all seats. Drew's parents are here to watch him too. Yesterday he and his family went to dinner to celebrate his birthday, Bianca went as well since she is his girlfriend, and his parents gave him a car for his birthday. Must be nice to have parents like that, I haven't heard from or seen Rudy since he came into The Dot thankfully. Of course I haven't heard from my mom since I moved out either.

DeGrassi loses the game but we put up a good fight and after the game we all go to Drew's party. It's at his place so we all head over there, Drew and Owen will be over as soon as they've showered and changed. We help Audra and Omar get things set up at the house before they get there. When Drew gets there we all yell Happy Birthday, well Clare doesn't yell but she smiles and hugs him after the rest of us yell. Drew greets everyone and we start eating pizza, other people are talking and mingling but Clare and I sit on the sofa to eat. Owen joins us and I talk to him while she sits there quietly. When we're done eating Owen takes our plates and Clare turns to me touching the fading bruise around my eye.

"It's almost healed," I smile at her.

 **Steve will be back at school on Monday his suspension is over.**

"Are you worried about Steve being back at the school? I won't let him near you," I assure her.

 **I don't like him or your stepdad. They hurt you and Steve is scary.**

"I can handle them and we filed a police report on Rudy and I promise that I won't let Steve hurt you. Just don't let him know he scares you," I tell her.

"Who?" Owen asks sitting down with us again along with Adam.

"She's worried about Steve being back at the school," I inform them.

"Don't worry about him, if he causes you any problems you just let us know. Steve is just a punk," Owen says.

Drew and Bianca come over and then Drew cuts his birthday cake and opens his gifts. I told Jake I'd have Clare home by ten because they're parents are out at a party and would be home by about eleven. So after cake and presents I tell Clare I should get her home and she goes to say goodbye to Adam, Owen, Drew and Bianca.

 **I had fun tonight. I don't know what plans are tomorrow but I'll come over if I can in the morning. You work tomorrow night right?**

"Yeah six to close at Above the Dot. You can text me or just come over since you have a key," I tell her and she smiles. I get out and walk her to the front door. No one is home because Jake is out with Katie and her parents are at a party. She stands on her tiptoes and softly presses her lips to mine for a goodnight kiss. She unlocks her door and I watch her go inside and relock the door before I get back in my car and return to the party.

It goes for another couple of hours before Audra makes everyone go home. I don't see Clare much over the weekend but she's not able to get away because her mom and Dad have decided to spend some family time together. I'd be worried but Jake is included in the family time and he'll be sure she's safe. I do see Clare when I get to school Monday morning, she's waiting in the foyer with Adam. She sees me and greets me with a kiss. We hang out until the bell then Clare, Adam and I walk to class. After homeroom I walk Clare and Adam to math and kiss Clare at the door before I start walking to vehicle maintenance. I don't make it to the auto shop before Steve grabs me and shoves me into the wall.

"You think you're some big shot because you got your own place and a now? You and you're freak of a girlfriend better fucking watch out," Steve warns me.

"You stay the hell away from Clare, go near her again and I'll make sure you get a punishment worse than suspension," I reply pushing him away from me.

"You alright?" Owen asks when I get into class.

"Had a run in with Steve, he threatened me and Clare. I'll go talk to Simpson after class."

Owen and Drew come with me when I go talk to Simpson. I tell him about Steve's threat and he calls Steve in to have a talk with him. Not sure how much it will help but eventually Steve will get expelled.

 **(HELEN)**

"Mr. and Mrs. Martin how nice to see you."

"Hello Mr. Simpson," I smile politely.

"Clare's been wonderful to have at the school, she's very intelligent. She's really blossoming at the school, she very sociable. She still communicates through writing but she's so comfortable with her classes and friends, even her teachers it wouldn't surprise me if she found the courage to talk soon, she may even be talking by Christmas. I know it's just a few weeks away but wouldn't that be a wonderful gift for you? Transferring her was really the right thing to do."

"How wonderful," I reply with a fake smile.

"Excuse us Mr. Simpson we really must be going," Glen says and we leave the store.

We had been grocery shopping but now we had to return home. We drive home in a furious silence.

"Where are the kids?"

"Jake is out with Katie and Clare is helping with the play, it premieres tonight she'll be home later," I reply.

"Do you know what will happen if she talks Helen?"

"Yes I know what will happen, call Norman send her for the weekend for treatments. When she's home we'll take her. Call him now we need to take her tonight."

Glen gets out his phone and I go upstairs to back a small bag for Clare. We never wanted to transfer Clare to a regular school but we couldn't hide her anymore, people were asking questions and getting suspicious. Norman said she'd never adjust and if she began then we could send her back for treatment.

"Norman's on his way he'll bring her. I'm sure Jake won't be home until curfew," Glen tells me when he comes up the stairs.

"Good, when she gets back from Norman's I'm sure she'll never talk."

We wait downstairs for Norman, when he arrives he has a syringe in his hand. We tell him Clare isn't home yet and tell him what the principal said. We're still talking when we hear a car outside and look out to see Clare getting of a car.

"Who's the boy?" Norman inquires.

"A boy she's tutoring in math," I reply.

Clare comes in the door and Norman walks over, Clare freezes backing against the wall at the sight of him. Then she looks out the door like she's about to bolt but Glen and I block the door.

"You need more treatment Clare," Norman tells her and she shakes her head vigorously. "Yes you do Clare, we're going to the hospital you'll be all better when you return on Monday."

Clare begins to tear up and runs up the stairs; Norman grabs her and shoves the needle into her arm. Clare continues to fight for another moment before her body goes limp.

"You're sure that she won't talk? She won't even want to talk when she returns?" I ask.

"No I'll make sure the thought of talking is associated with pain. She knows this she just needs a refresher," Norman assures us before leaving the house and carrying Clare out to his car.

Glen and I go to dinner and return home going about our night until we hear Jake come home. He locks the front door and comes upstairs before going to Clare's room and then bursting into ours.

"Jake you don't just come into our room without knocking," Glen reprimands him.

"Where's Clare? She should have been home more than an hour ago and she's not replying to texts."

"Your sister had a breakdown she's been sent for treatment," I tell him.

"She wouldn't have a breakdown; I don't think she's ever had a breakdown. What did you do to her, where did you send her?"

"She's with Uncle Norman," Glen informs him. Jake turns around and runs. "Son where are you going?" Glen calls after him but Jake doesn't answer he just runs out of the house.

"You don't think he's going to cause any trouble do you?" I ask Glen.

"We'll take care of it if he does but there's nothing he can do. Clare is under the care of a physician, Jake knows nothing. He'll worry about his sister a couple of days and she'll come back and everything will be fine. Don't worry my love nothing will ruin our happiness or keep us apart."

 **The update next Sunday will probably pick up in either Fitz or Jake's pov.**


	13. Are You Bruised, Are You Broken

**May and June calendars have been added to the DeGrassi Saviors website, the mobile calendar will be updated later this week.**

 **I've also added 17 upcoming stories to the list on my profile pages. Yes I was able to plot 17 new stories for us all to look forward to!**

 **Ch. 13 Are You Bruised, Are You Broken**

 **(JAKE)**

Arriving home after a wonderful date with Katie I head up the stairs to Clare's room. I want to ask her how the play was and tell her about my date. I knock on the door and go in when I don't find it locked but Clare is not in her room. She wasn't in the living room and our washroom door was open. I know Clare isn't at Fitz's or Adam's because she would have told me so that I could have covered for her. I fling open the door to my parent's room, Mom is in bed and Dad is getting ready for bed.

"Jake you don't just come into our room without knocking," Dad barks at me but I ignore him.

"Where's Clare? She should have been home more than an hour ago and she's not replying to texts," I tell them. I tried texting her on my date to see how the play went. When she didn't answer I figured she was out celebrating with Fitz and the others. Now I realize she didn't reply because they did something to her, our own parents have put her in jeopardy I'm sure of it.

"Your sister had a breakdown she's been sent for treatment," Mom says to me but she doesn't sound the least bit concerned about Clare. Quite the opposite she's cold, detached and almost proud, it's very disturbing.

"She wouldn't have a breakdown; I don't think she's ever had a breakdown. What did you do to her, where did you send her?" I demand clenching my fists.

"She's with Uncle Norman," Dad enlightens me and my heart starts pounding, fearing for Clare's life I turn and run out of the house, "Son where are you going?"

I ignore dad calling after me and don't even close the door as I hop back in my car. I drive straight to Fitz and Bianca's apartment barely stopping and stop signs or streetlights. I run upstairs letting myself in with my key and find them both still awake.

"What happened?" Fitz asks standing up from the sofa where the two of them were watching TV.

"Clare is gone; my parent's sent her to my uncle. They claim she had a breakdown and she's receiving treatment. She hasn't gotten treatment in years and the few times she has she's come back more damaged," I tell them with desperation.

"Where does your uncle live?" Fitz asks.

"Kingston, his hospital is there too."

"Let's go," Fitz says going back to his room to get his shoes and a coat I would assume.

"I'll call Owen, we might need backup. I'll call Drew and Adam from the road they won't be able to come with us," Bianca comments.

She gets on the phone while getting her shoes on and her purse. Fitz comes out ready to and Owen wants to come so we pick him up and take his car when we pick him up since my truck only seats three. The drive to Kingston is mostly silent, all of us fearing for Clare I'm sure but I don't know what thoughts might be going through their minds. Bianca calls Drew to let him know what's going on. I tell them all what I found about Uncle Norman treating Clare, and what little I actually know about Norman. I've never actually been to his house or his hospital but Fitz and I look them up on our phones and give Owen directions. Having found my uncle's house we get out and begin banging on the door. After a moment the light comes on inside and after he looks out the window and sees me Norman opens the door.

"Jake h…"

"Where's my sister?" I demand pushing past him. Fitz, Owen and Bianca follow me in.

"She's at the hospital, she needs treatment," Norman replies.

"I want to see her, she's coming with me she doesn't need treatment she's not crazy!"

"I'm afraid you can't see her she's under my care. I suggest you go home Clare will return on Monday," Norman tells us.

"She's not crazy," I say again and look at the others, "search the house."

"She's not here Jake she's at the hospital for treatment and she will stay there until Monday. I'll bring her home myself and you'll see how much better she is," Norman responds but we're not listening, we begin searching the house however Norman wasn't lying Clare isn't here. We leave the house and drive to the hospital, running in to the front desk.

"My sister Clare Martin I have to see her."

"I'm sorry she's under the strict care of Dr. Martin no one can see her," the nurse informs us.

I slam my hand on the counter in frustration and Fitz kicks it. Owen and Bianca escort us out of the hospital before Fitz and I begin tearing the place apart.

"Let's go to the cops," Owen suggests when we get back in my truck.

We find a police station and go in, I tell them everything. They call Mom and Dad, bring Norman in and even go to the hospital. It's over two hours but they tell us there's nothing they can do. Our parents gave her to Norman for treatment and she has a history of treatment, she didn't need the treatment but it doesn't matter she has a history of it. Norman is a licensed doctor and Clare is a patient under his care. The officers that went to the hospital tell me Clare was in a drug induced sleep but they were told it was necessary and there was nothing nefarious about it. The officers commend us for being worried but as far as they're concerned, having spoken with my parents, Norman and the hospital staff nothing can be done and there's nothing to worry about. Since we can't prove that Clare didn't have a breakdown and both my parents and medical professionals are saying she did we're helpless. I'm not old enough to take Clare from the hospital and have no proof that my parents have done anything we have no choice but to return home in defeat.

The drive home is tense and silent, we're all angry that we couldn't do anything. We feel helpless. All we can do is hope that she returns on Monday and that she's not broken, hope that she hasn't regressed because of whatever treatment Norman has done to her.

 **(FITZ)**

The ringing of Owen's phone startles us all; I look out the window to see that the sun is has risen. Since returning in defeat from Kingston we came back to my place and we've all been sitting in the living room silent and almost comatose. None of us wanted to leave Clare but we had no choice, we couldn't get her from the hospital, they wouldn't even let us in to see her. We are all just kids, no legal cause and totally helpless so we came home. I don't know about the others but I'm sure that Jake and I felt physically ill having to leave her there. We'd been sitting on our sofa since getting home and we hadn't even noticed that the sun was up.

"Hey Jane," Owen answers his phone and we all hear his end of the conversation, "shit I forgot about breakfast…Sorry I've been up all night we're all at Fitz and Bianca's it's been a hard night…Yeah I'm sure you can come over," Owen says and looks at me and I nod. It's now that I realize I'm expected to be at work in half an hour so I take out my phone to call Spin.

"Hi Fitz."

"I know I'm supposed to be there for a shift but we've been up all night. Clare's parents claimed she had some kind of breakdown and sent her to a mental hospital under her uncle's care. We tried to get her from the hospital but there was nothing we could do. Her uncle says she'll be back Monday but I have no idea what they're doing to her."

"It's okay get some sleep I'll see you tomorrow unless you think you need tomorrow off too?"

"No I'll be in tomorrow I have to do something since we couldn't save Clare."

"Okay I'll cover your shift get some sleep and try not to worry too much I'm sure Clare will be home Monday."

"Yeah," I sigh before hanging up.

"Jane's coming over she's bringing food," Owen tells me.

"Drew and Adam are coming too, they're both worried," Bianca says.

"Do you need to call your parents and tell them where you are?" I ask Jake because I know Owen's parents won't worry, he's disappeared in the middle of the night before and always lets them know he's alive and okay.

"No I don't think they care at all or are going to be worried, I'm not going home until Clare is home," Jake replies through partially clenched teeth.

"You're welcome to stay here and crash on the sofa," I tell him.

"Thanks," Jake replies.

I nod and go into the washroom splashing some cold water on my face. I'm exhausted, as much from not sleeping as just worrying about what Clare is being subjected to. I dry my face and go back out to the living room. Owen is in the kitchen making coffee and I sit on the floor. Drew and Adam show up first and then Jane comes with boxes of pastries and bagels. Everybody takes some coffee and something to eat but not many of us very hungry. Adam and Drew tell us they talked to their dad and he agreed there was nothing we could do. At least not until we can either prove that Clare's parents did something to cause her mutism to begin with or that the treatment she's receiving is not necessary because that is a form of abuse. Currently we can do neither so again we're helpless.

We all hang out at my place all day, even Anya comes over in the afternoon when Adam calls and says he can't go out with her. We watch TV, we eat a little but mostly we worry about Clare. Jake sleeps over but the others do go home that evening and Sunday I force myself to go to work, mostly just to be doing something so I don't spend another day sitting around worrying about Clare. Jake is hiding out at our place but I don't blame him. It actually comforts me in a way to have him there.

Work is busy and it's distracting but I can't help but be worried about Clare deep down. At least when the café is full and busy I'm not thinking about it. When I get home that evening Jake and Katie are in the living room, looks like she brought him dinner. Katie doesn't hang out for long and tells Jake to call her if he needs anything or hears anything. Bianca is out with Drew but she'll be home later. Jake and I eat and watch TV, Jake sleeps over again but knowing Clare is coming home tomorrow neither of us sleeps very much.

"I'm coming to the house with you," I tell Jake the next morning when he's getting ready to go back to his house.

"No if you show up it could make things worse, they'll know you're more than just Clare's math tutor. She probably won't be home this morning anyway. I'll see you at school, I'll tell you everything they say and if she's home I'll bring her to school with me."

"Yeah okay," I nod knowing Jake is right but I want to be there, I want to see Clare and hold her in my arms.

Jake leaves and I start getting ready for school with Bianca. We both have work after school so we take separate cars. We arrive at school at the same time and go into the foyer to wait for our friends.

"Maybe Jake will bring her to school," Bianca says hopefully.

"Do you think it's possible to be in love already? I know we've only been dating a little over three months but I think I'm already in love with her."

"I've seen you with her I think it's love," Bianca grins.

"Any news?" Owen asks when he comes in and I shake my head.

"Jake said he'd bring her to school if she was home but she might not be back yet," I tell him.

Drew and Adam come in a few minutes later and we're waiting for Jake and hoping that he brings Clare. When Jake does show up he's alone and my heart sinks because Clare isn't with him.

"She wasn't home yet, according to Dad Norman is bringing her home late this morning. She's supposed to rest today and will be back at school tomorrow," Jake tells us.

I sink back because I don't want to wait until tomorrow to see Clare.

 **(JAKE)**

"I have a spare next period I'm going to go home and see if Clare is home yet," I tell Katie as we leave 2nd period for lunch.

"Do you want some company?" Katie offers.

"Yeah I do but if my parents are home and I bring someone home it could make things worse. I should check things out first," I tell her.

"Okay I have a spare next period too call if you need me," Katie says. I smile and kiss her softly before I go to find Fitz.

"I'm going home to see if Clare is there yet, if she is and it's safe for you to come over I'll call you," I tell him.

"Thanks but will you let me know either way please? Even if it's not safe for me to come over just let me know she's home and hopefully okay," Fitz requests.

"Yeah I will," I nod.

I get in my truck and drive home, Mom's car is here but Dad's truck is gone. I park and go inside finding Mom in the kitchen making lunch.

"Jake shouldn't you be at school?" Mom inquires.

I don't answer her I just go upstairs and straight to Clare's room, when I open it I find Clare home. She's lying in bed, curled on her side and almost seems to be sleeping but her eyes are open. Her hair is pulled over much of her face and she doesn't look over when I come in. I sit on the side of the bed putting my hand on her, she shuts her eyes tight and tears start to roll down her cheeks.

"Clare what happened? What did they do to you?" I ask her. She doesn't move, doesn't open her eyes to look at me, doesn't do anything. I reach over grabbing her chalkboard and handing it to her, I even put the chalk in her hand but she just drops it to the floor. "Clare what happened to you? What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong with her Jake she's just tired," Mom replies coming in with a sandwich for Clare.

"Tired from what? What the hell kind of treatment was she getting? And if she's just tired why is she crying?"

"Well I don't know Jake your sister has mental issues who knows why she's crying," Mom replies flippantly.

"SHE'S NOT FUCKING CRAZY!" I scream at my mom but Clare just curls up more.

"Jake you're upsetting your sister go back to school."

"No I'm not leaving and I don't have classes right now. I want to know what the hell was done to her this weekend," I demand.

"She was receiving treatment for a breakdown you know that now let your sister eat her lunch."

"She can eat, I'm not stopping her but I'm not leaving either," I reply sitting down at Clare's desk chair.

"Suit yourself I'll make you a sandwich," Mom shrugs leaving the room.

Clare sits up slowly but keeps her head down and takes her plate to eat her sandwich. She won't even look at me, it's like she's just a shell. I remember her behaving like this before, a long time ago very vague memories of her being shut off like this after other treatments with Uncle Norman.

"Clare I'm here, you know you can talk to me, you can tell me what they did to you," I plead with her. She pauses for a second but never looks up and Mom brings me in a sandwich before she goes back downstairs. I almost start eating but then remember I need to call Fitz and hope that maybe hearing me talk to him will break her out of it a little. "Fitz she's home," I tell him when he answers.

"Can I come over? Is she okay?"

"No our mom is here don't come over and no she's not okay. She's alive and she's not hurt but she's…different. You can say hi to her but you won't be able to see her until tomorrow," I inform him and getting up holding the phone to her ear. I hear Fitz say hi and a few other things I can't quite hear but his voice is kind and pleading. "She'll be at school tomorrow, I'm going to stay with her for the afternoon and I'll call you if there's any change."

"Thanks," Fitz says and we hang up.

Whatever he said to her it seems to have affected her. She's stopped eating and pushes away her plate. She still doesn't attempt to pick up her chalkboard or get out her phone to communicate; she just sits there holding her knees to her chest. I eat my sandwich and watch her as my mind searches for something to say, something to break her out of this, to assure her that she's okay but I can think of nothing.

"Clare you didn't eat," Mom comments when she comes back in the room, "well you must still be tired, lie down again and rest."

Clare lies down, curling on her side and closing her eyes. I tell Mom I have no more classes and I'm staying home because I'm worried about Clare. Mom doesn't argue or seem to even care she just shrugs and leaves the room.

"Clare please tell me what Uncle Norman did? Tell me what treatments he did, please tell me what happened," I beg.

Clare doesn't move but her eyes dart to the door.

"Are you worried about Mom? She's downstairs and you can write it on the blackboard and it will get erased," I tell her getting the chalkboard and chalk again.

She rolls to her back and takes them, begins to write something and erases it before writing something else and handing me the chalkboard.

 **I don't want to talk about it.**

"Okay," I sigh giving in because I'm afraid to push too far. "You know Fitz is worried about you, Adam and your other friends too."

 **I missed them. I missed you.**

"I know we missed you too. We were really worried we even went to Kingston to get you."

 **You did?**

"Yeah we did, we went to Uncle Norman's house and the hospital even the cops but we couldn't do anything. We're all minors and Mom and Dad and Uncle Norman all said you needed treatment. We tried to get you, and get you out of there."

Clare starts crying again, she drops the chalk and chalkboard curling back on her side. It's now that I see a faint mark near her hairline and temple.

"Clare what's this?" I question brushing my thumb over the mark.

She just begins crying harder, curling up more and pulling her other pillow over her head a little to cover the mark. I sink back and sit on the end of the bed. I take out my phone and text Katie that I'm very worried about Clare and not coming back to school today. I spend all afternoon and evening in Clare's room, she cries herself to sleep but I stay in the room until Dad forces me to come down for dinner.

"You shouldn't be so worried about your sister Son she's much better now that she's had treatment again. I think that the school and all the extracurricular activities were too much for her," Dad remarks as we sit down to eat.

"She's not better she's worse and you too are crazy. She was doing just fine, she was thriving at the new school and with her friends," I growl at them slamming my fist in the table.

My parents look at me, both have the same look it's like I'm in the way and I see absolutely no love in my parent's eyes. I realize if I don't stay calm and stop they are just going to make things worse. I can see it in their eyes and it's terrifying. If I'm not careful they could have Clare committed to a mental hospital permanently. I have no doubt that with Uncle Norman's help they could do it. I take a deep breath and relax my whole body. I decide that fighting against them and trying to convince them that Clare's not crazy is not going to let me help Clare.

"I'm sorry I've just been worried about her all weekend and she's so quiet now," I reply quietly.

"Jake she's always quiet she doesn't speak," Mom replies.

I don't respond I just eat dinner quietly and then go back to Clare's room but she's still asleep. I could sit in her room all night but it's not going to do anything, other than possibly frighten Clare if she wakes up and finds someone sitting in her room in the dark. So I go into my room, I start on homework and chat online with Katie. Fitz calls when he gets off work but I don't want to talk here where my parents could hear so I tell him that she's sleeping. I then text him back that I'll talk with him in the morning.

I finish my homework; talk with Katie some more, shower and get ready for bed. I'm not tired though and I spend a long time chatting with Katie online and doing some stuff on my laptop before I'm finally so exhausted I fall asleep. I wake up when I hear Clare in the washroom the next morning; I get dressed and open my door waiting for her to come out of the washroom. She opens the door, sees me and bites her lip and looks down before going into her room. Whatever happened to her this weekend it seems to have scared her from even looking at me. She's almost like a ghost now, it kills me and it's frightening. I get ready for school and go downstairs to eat breakfast; she's sitting at the table with Mom and Dad. Clare has breakfast in front of her but she's not eating she just has her head down looking at her plate.

"You're not eating again Clare do you need to stay home to rest again?" Mom asks.

Clare shakes her head and begins nibbling at her food. She eats enough that Mom says she can go to school and we get in my truck. She sits staring blankly out the window all the way to school and I fear that she's been so broken we won't be able to repair whatever damage was done this weekend.

 **The update next Sunday will pick up from the two of them getting to school and in Fitz's pov.**


	14. All You've Gotta Do is Call & I'll Be Th

**Be sure to visit my page on the DeGrassi Saviors website to vote for which story will replace Waiting on a Spark that hasn't Happened Yet when that ends. You have three choices and there are brief descriptions for each story in the poll. The poll will remain up until the last chapter of Waiting on a Spark that hasn't Happened Yet goes up which might be as few as four weeks or as many as ten it all depends on how much goes into these last few chapters. Currently Love Me Back to Life and The Girls Next Door are almost tied, the leading story is ahead by only a couple of votes.**

 **It's a little on the short side again, sorry but Sunday's tend to busy.**

 **Ch. 14 All You've Gotta Do is Call & I'll Be There**

 **(FITZ)**

Bianca and I both took my car to school, we got here about twenty minutes ago and I'm sitting on the bannister waiting for Clare and Jake to get here. She came home yesterday but I couldn't see her, Jake said she wasn't doing well and I wanted to see her but her mom was home and Jake was worried if I came over it would make things worse. Finally I see Jake pull in, I watch them park and wait for them to walk to the steps. Clare walks over with her head down, I hop off the bannister and hug her, she doesn't look up but she does cling to me.

"Bianca can you take Clare to her locker please I need to talk to Fitz a moment," Jake requests.

"Yeah no problem, come on Clare the boys need to talk," Bianca says. Clare releases me reluctantly, Bianca puts her arm around her shoulders and the girls walk inside.

"Did she tell you anything?" I ask Jake.

"No she wouldn't talk about it, when I asked about it she said she didn't want to talk about it. I told her we went to Kingston for her, she seemed surprised. I don't know what she got put through this weekend but I found marks on her temples, not bruises though I'm not sure what they were. Maybe she'll talk to you, see if you can get her to tell you anything. I've stopped fighting with my parents about Clare, the more I fight them the less they trust me and I don't think they really care what happens to either of us. If they don't trust me they'll probably send me away or worse, if anything does happen to me take care of Clare okay? Get her out of that house and do whatever you have to but keep our parents away from her."

"Don't worry Jake I'll keep her safe," I assure him.

"I know you will, anyway if they trust me again it will be easier for me to find out what they did to make her go mute in the first place. If I can prove something I can get us both out of there."

"We'll help," I remind him as we walk inside.

Jake smiles and leaves me to find Katie when we're inside. I start walking towards Clare's locker, I find her with Owen, Bianca, Adam and Drew. Clare is still looking down but she's standing a little behind Owen and Adam and gripping their shirts. I walk over and hold my hand out to her, she lets go of Owen and takes my hand coming into my arms again.

"I'm glad you're home, we all are," I tell her and she finally looks up just as the bell rings.

We wave to Owen, Bianca and Drew and the three of us walk to media studies. Clare stays with her head down for most of the day, she seems okay at lunch when it's just us, the Torres brothers, Owen and Bianca but she doesn't much like other people around. She won't even look up to greet Eli and when we ask her what happened in Kingston she just shakes her head.

"Has she said anything to you?" Jake asks when I get into our fourth period math class.

"No when we ask what happened last weekend she just shakes her head."

I can actually understand part of math class thanks to Clare's help. When math class ends Jake walks with me toward Clare's geography class. It seems to have run a little long and we wait outside the door, she comes out with Adam and they walk over to us.

"Do you want to tutor me at The Dot before I have to work?" I ask Clare and she nods.

"If you want to sleep at Fitz's place tonight I can sneak you out after Mom and Dad go to bed," Jake tell her and Clare nods again.

"I'm off at 10:30 I can pick you up after work."

"I'll get her downstairs with a bag by 10:40, right now I'm going to Katie's to do homework I'll pick you up from The Dot in a couple of hours so we're home in time for dinner," Jake tells Clare.

She nods, I put my arm around her and we go to my car. I don't need to drive to work but I don't want to walk back here after work to get it. Bianca is going to Drew's to do homework and stay for dinner, he'll bring her home after.

"Hey Spin do you mind if Clare and I study in the employee lounge until I have to work?" I ask him when we walk into the café.

"No go ahead, you two want anything?" Spinner asks.

Clare gets out her phone to type on it but puts it back shaking her head.

"Do you want something? I'll buy it just tell me what you want," I encourage her.

She asks for a strawberry milkshake, I get a chocolate one and we go back to the employee lounge. She tutors me in math and then begins on some of her own homework. When I have to clock into work Clare still has some time before Jake arrives so comes out and sits in the café. Other people are here that she knows but she doesn't want to sit with them, again she'll barely look at them. When she sees Jake pull up out front she waves to me and goes out to Jake. She gets in his truck and they drive off. It's a fairly quiet at the café for my entire shift. Spinner asks about her and I tell him that she wouldn't talk about what happened.

When my shift ends I say goodnight to Spinner and text Jake that I'm on my way. I see him and Clare outside when I pull up to their house a short time later, Clare hugs Jake and comes to my car carrying my backpack. I wave to Jake and drive to Clare and I to my place, Bianca is home when we come in but she's in her bedroom. She does come out to say hi. Clare and I get ready for bed, even though it's early we get in bed but not to sleep just yet. I turn off the overhead light and turn on the beside lamp while I hold her in my arms. Her head is on my chest and I absentmindedly brush back some of her hair and I see the mark on her temple. I remember Jake saying they were there but she didn't want to talk about it.

"Clare what is this?" I question brushing my thumb over the mark.

She bats my hand away and brushes her hair back over the mark then she reaches over and turns off the bedside lamp. T-I-R-E-D she writes on my chest; she's not explaining the mark she's avoiding it. I give in and drop it for now, she's not going to tell me anything if she doesn't want to she's spent her life not talking. I stroke her arm gently and hold her close telling myself I can protect her from whatever it was and that I'll never let her be taken again. Clare sleeps soundly through night and when we wake to my alarm the next morning she kisses my chest.

"I know you don't want to talk about these," I comment brushing the marks on her temples, "but when you're ready to tell me you know I'm here. If anyone ever hurts or ever did hurt you, physically or emotionally, I want to know about it Clare. I want to know everything about you and I promise that I will do everything I possibly can to protect you."

Clare smiles and couples our lips in a passionate and blissful kiss. **I know I'm safe when I'm with you.** She writes on the whiteboard I keep by my bed and I smile.

"I'm glad, come on we should get ready for school."

We get up and get ready for school, eating breakfast with Bianca before we go to school. Bianca works after school but I have the afternoon off so we take separate cars. When we get to school there's a few kids out in the snow but most of them are inside. Jake is in the foyer along with Adam, Drew and Owen. We all walk to Clare and Adam's lockers, while they're getting their stuff I pull Jake away a little bit to talk with him.

"I saw the marks on her temples but she wouldn't talk about it. I asked what it was and she told me she was tired. This morning I told her when she was ready to tell me that I was here and I would do all that I could to protect her from anyone that hurt her. She said she felt safe with me but still wouldn't talk."

"Thanks hopefully after some time she'll open up to one of us. I asked Eli to have lunch with her, she trusts him and he's going to tell her he wants her input on the play for next semester. I want to talk to you all at lunch I already asked Owen, Adam and Drew."

"Cool I'll be there," I nod.

Clare comes over taking my hand and I smile at her. When the bell rings Clare, Adam and I walk to class. We watch a movie in homeroom media studies and when class is over I walk Clare and Adam to math before I go to vehicle maintenance.

"Hey Fitz Jake asked me to have lunch with Clare," Eli says when I get into class.

"Yeah he told me, he needs to talk to the rest of us."

"Did you find out what happened to her this weekend?"

"No she's still not talking," I shake my head.

"Well don't worry I'll take care of her at lunch," Eli assures me.

When class is over I leave with Owen and Drew, Eli will get Clare from class so they can have lunch. We meet Jake and Adam at the memorial garden.

"I'm sure this is going to sound like a paranoid conspiracy theory but I know my parents are responsible whatever caused Clare to go mute," Jake comments. "I've heard my uncle and my parents talking about Clare speaking, only they never sound concerned that she'll never speak again they sound concerned that she will. I can only think of one reason they'd be so worried that she will talk and that's because she knows something she shouldn't. Whatever she knows they want to make sure she'll never tell anyone. I'm now convinced that our parents and uncle not only caused her mutism to begin with but they're keeping her mute. I know she wasn't getting treatment for a breakdown but I do think my uncle, a trained psychiatrist, was scaring Clare into keeping silent. My parents have been paranoid about Clare making friends and talking since she started at DeGrassi. At first it didn't make sense why they were so guarded about her making friends and having a normal life but now I realize they never wanted her to have those things. Anyway I've stopped fighting them when it comes to Clare, if they don't trust me who knows what they'll do. I'm hoping by winter break they won't be paranoid anymore, they usually go away for New Year's and when they do I'm going to dig further. In the meantime, I'm going to keep her out of the house as much as possible."

"You know you're both welcome at our place any time," I tell Jake.

"And our house," Adam says.

"And mine," Owen adds.

"I know and I'm grateful. This is probably going to get a lot worse before they get better but I'm not going to let them hurt Clare ever again," Jake says in a steadfast tone.

 **(CLARE)**

"So there's a dance next week right before winter break do you want to go?" Fitz asks me at lunch on Friday.

"We should go as a group Adam and I are going," Anya comments smiling at Adam. He glows when he looks at her it's really cute. I nod in agreement that we should all go together.

"Jane's coming too," Owen says.

"Everyone can get ready at our place," Drew speaks up.

"Is everyone coming to our last football game of the season tonight?" Owen questions.

"You know we are, is Jane coming?" Bianca queries.

"Yeah she'll probably get there just as the game is starting, save her a seat will you?" Owen requests.

"We will," Anya replies.

"What are everyone's plans for Christmas?" Adam inquires.

"Guess Fitz and I are going to have some sort of Christmas dinner at our place," Bianca shrugs.

"You guys can have Christmas dinner at my place," Owen tells them.

"And Christmas Eve at our place, Anya is coming to Christmas Eve dinner," Adam says.

"Yeah but our grandparents will be there too," Drew adds.

 **I want to spend Christmas with you.** I type on my phone and show it to Fitz.

"Then we'll find a way to make it happen," Fitz says and I smile.

Jake has snuck me out every night this week after our parents went to bed so I could sleep at Fitz's place. Tonight they already know that I'm staying late at the football game and Jake is pretty sure I can just go right home with Fitz. Both Jake and I have been very good all week and they've stopped asking what happened last weekend with Uncle Norman. Even if I could begin to tell them there's nothing they could do about it, they drove all the way to Kingston to get me and were stopped by adults. I've learned to take comfort and solace when I'm away from home and my parents. When I'm around my parents it's best if I act like a dutiful daughter.

"Come on let's get to photography," Owen says when the bell rings for third period.

"I'll see you after class school," Anya says kissing Adam before she walks to her class since she doesn't have photography with the rest of us.

We get to develop the pictures we took earlier this week in photography class and it's fun to see the pictures everyone took. Nothing interesting happens in geography and everyone is excited for the game. After school Adam and I go to our lockers to get our coats, it's not snowing now but it did last night. Everyone bundles up in hats, coats, scarves and mittens before going out to the watch the game. The janitor had heat lamps on the bleachers so those are warm at least and Adam brought self-heating pads you can slip into your mittens or socks.

We gather on the front row of the bleachers, I sit between Adam and Fitz and Jane joins us after a few minutes. She sits next to Bianca and we all huddle together for warmth. I like watching Owen and Drew play football, I like rooting for our team and I love spending time with Fitz and my friends. The game is exciting and with all the cheering, clapping and jumping up when DeGrassi scores we're barely effected by the cold. DeGrassi wins and the school celebrates, the band is playing, people are cheering and clapping. Bianca and Jane run out to the field to kiss their boyfriends. I jump up and clap before walking out to the field with the others. I hug Owen and Drew, the team and pretty much all of the DeGrassi kids at the game are going for pizza.

We spend several hours at the pizza place until they kick us all out but we all had fun eating and spending time with our friends. Jake sends a text that he just got home and mom and Dad are asleep, he'll make it look like I'm sleeping and tell them I left early so I can stay at Fitz's until tomorrow night at least.

 **I'm not tired yet.** I type on my phone when we're back at his apartment.

"You want to watch a movie or something?" Fitz asks and I nod.

Bianca comes home and we tell her we're going to watch a movie and she can join us. Fitz finds a movie while Bianca and I make dessert and we watch a movie together before going to bed.

 **I hope I can spend time with you at Christmas. It's always been just us, sometimes grandparents or Uncle Norman.** I type on my phone and show it to Fitz when we're in his bed.

"Jake and I will think of something and if your Uncle Norman comes to Christmas I'll get you from there myself."

 **I wish I never had to leave your apartment, I always feel best when I'm with you.**

"I know, I wish you didn't have to leave either, maybe one day you won't," Fitz says before kissing me.

 **The update next Sunday will probably begin with the dance and include Christmas and possibly New Year's.**


	15. Please tell Me the Things You Most Fear

**Next week there is no story on Friday or Saturday. Make sure you check the calendar on the DeGrassi Saviors website (see the link on my profile page) for the full calendar.**

 **Also don't forget to vote in the poll on the site to vote for which story will replace** _ **Waiting on a Spark that Hasn't Happened Yet**_ **when it ends soon.**

 **Ch. 15 Please tell Me the Things You Most Fear**

 **(CLARE)**

"You look stunning," Fitz grins when I come out of his room dressed for the dance.

I smile and kiss his cheek running my hand along his shirt collar so he knows I think he looks good too. Everyone else is dressed and ready to go, Adam is meeting Anya at the dance and Owen got ready at his place, he's picking Jane up and will meet us at the school for the dance. Drew and Adam both came here to get ready for the dance. Jake got ready at Katie's house but we'll see him there.

Since only five of us are here we all go in Fitz's car. The dance is already going when we arrive and since it's December and freezing we're all bundled in coats. Adam waits near the front doors for Anya to arrive and says he'll see us in there. Two teachers are hanging coats after you come into the auditorium, Fitz takes the claim check for our coats and we go into the dance. Fitz puts his arm around me and we walk around the dance a little with the others to find Owen, Anya and Jake. We see Jake first, he's with Katie, Mo and Marisol. I greet my brother, he talks with Fitz a moment and tells us to have a good time. We walk toward the refreshments and Owen finds us, we greet him and Jane. While we're talking to Owen and Jane Adam and Anya join us. We grab some punch and some refreshments before sitting on the bleachers to eat.

"Would you like to dance?" Fitz asks me when a slow song comes on and I nod. He takes my hand and pulls me out to the dance floor. Keeping hold of my hand his arm goes around me and I lean on his chest as we sway back and forth to music. "Do you know you're the most beautiful girl here?" Fitz says as we dance and I shake my head. "In my eyes you are," he tells me and I smile.

When a fast song comes on we return to the bleachers. Adam, Anya, Owen and Jane are dancing. Drew and Bianca are back at the refreshment table. Adam and Anya come back and tell us to dance with them, it's still a fast song but I just sway my hips. We dance for a couple more songs and then Sav goes on stage and says he's going to DJ for a couple of songs. Some very fast music begins to play, music with a heavy bass that shakes the room. Lights dim and a strobe light comes on, I grip Fitz and hide my face in his chest.

"Clare?" He asks in a loud voice and I hardly hear him over the music, but hear his voice reverberate through his chest. We aren't dancing anymore just getting bumped into, I pull away from Fitz and start to run. I bump into a few people but I make it out of the auditorium and away from the strobe light. "Clare what is it what's wrong?" Fitz asks catching up with me.

 **I don't like the strobe light I want to leave.** I type on my phone as I begin to cry.

"I'm sure the strobe will go off soon," Fitz assures me.

 **I want to leave. Please I want to go back to your place.**

"Okay we'll leave, I'll grab our coats and text Owen I'm sure he can drop the others off," Fitz says and gives me a gentle kiss before walking toward the auditorium. I lean against the wall and shut my eyes as images race across my mind and I feel tears trying to break free.

"Clare are you okay? Should I get Jake?" Principal Simpson asks and I shake my head.

 **Fitz went to get our coats he'll take me home. I'm okay.**

Principal Simpson nods but he still stays with me until Fitz comes back. Fitz puts his arm around me and we go out to his car. Before we leave he sends a text to Drew and Owen.

 **Fitz: Clare wanted to leave the dance so we're going back to my place. I think something scared her.**

Then he puts his phone down and we drive to his apartment. For the whole drive I try to get the images from my mind but I can't and it's upsetting. What's most upsetting is most of the images aren't clear, as if my memories were fractured into a thousand slivered pieces and I'm seeing one or two slivers from each memory. But mostly, I see flashes of light when I close my eyes coupled with horrible pain. So much so that when we arrive at his apartment I'm shaking.

"Clare what's wrong, please talk to me," Fitz begs sitting me on the sofa and wrapping me in a blanket.

 **Will you hold me in your bed?**

"Yeah of course," he nods wiping away the tear that's slowly crawling down my cheek.

We go into his room and take off our coats and shoes. He takes off his jacket and socks and I get out of the dress and tights taking one of his shirts and changing into that. Fitz lies on the bed and I lie with my head on his chest, he puts a blanket over us holding me close.

"Clare please tell me what happened at the dance, why did the strobe light bother you so much?"

 **Uncle Norman.**

"What about Uncle Norman?"

 **His hospital. The treatments.**

"Clare I don't understand what do you mean? What happened at the hospital? What treatments?"

 **ECT ECT ECT** I type on my phone and then throw it across the room feeling the pain all over again. I curl on my side and cling to Fitz as the tears flow. I'm shaking again and soaking his shirt with my tears, my heart pounds through my chest and I'm sure he can feel it. I grip his shirt and inhale his scent to assure myself that I'm not back at the hospital and hope that I'll never go back there again.

 **(ADAM)**

"Where'd Fitz and Clare go?" I ask my brother as Anya and I join him and Bianca on the bleachers.

"Don't know haven't seen them in a while. I'll text Fitz maybe they went to get some air," Drew says getting his phone out. "Hang on I have a text from Fitz. They went back to his place because something scared Clare and she wanted to leave the dance."

"Is she okay?" I question.

"I don't know I don't have another text from him."

"Why don't we go over and see," Anya suggests.

"You don't mind missing the rest of the dance?" I ask my girlfriend.

"I want to spend time with you and you're worried about your friend," Anya replies and I smile giving her a grateful kiss.

"Let's go tell Owen and Jake. Also we all came in Fitz's car," Bianca comments.

"I have my mom's car I can take you guys," Anya offers.

"We'll find Owen and Jane and tell them, Owen brought his own car but he might want to come back to the apartment too. You guys go tell Jake, he'll probably want to come back and check on his sister," Drew says.

We stand on the bleachers and once we spot Jake and Owen we split up. I hold Anya's hand and weave through the kids on the dance floor until we get to Jake.

"Clare got scared by something and Fitz took her to his place we're headed over there," I tell him in his ear so he can hear me over the music.

"I'm coming," Jake nods.

He whispers to Katie to tell her and she nods. The four of us leave the auditorium getting our coats and going out to the parking lot. Jake and Katie go in Jake's truck, Owen and Jane in his car while Drew and Bianca come with us in Anya's mom's car. We all arrive at Fitz and Bianca's apartment and Bianca unlocks the door.

"Clare," Jake calls into the apartment. After a moment Fitz comes out of his room.

"She'll be out in a minute," Fitz tells us.

"What happened?" Jake inquires.

"She was okay until Sav went up to DJ and the strobe came on. She clung to me and then ran out. I followed her and she said she didn't like the strobe light and wanted to leave. I told her it would be over in a moment but she insisted on leaving so we came home. When we got here and I was holding her in my bed I begged her to tell me what happened and why she didn't like the strobe. She typed on her phone Uncle Norman, then hospital and the treatments, then ECT repeated three times."

"ECT?" Jake asks.

"Electro convulsive therapy," I tell them swallowing hard, "shock therapy."

I make this revelation just as Clare exits Fitz's bedroom and we all look at her. She's wearing his shirt and sweat pants, seeing that we're all looking at her she bites her lip nervously and looks away. Fitz gets up and goes to her, putting an arm around her and bringing her to the sofa. He puts Clare on his lap and wraps her in his arms, she puts her head on his shoulder and it's plain to see that she's been crying.

"The marks," Jake says after a moment looking Fitz and Clare, "the marks on your forehead was that from ECT?"

Clare nods in response, turning her face into Fitz's chest she begins to cry again and he holds her tighter.

"Can they even use shock therapy on kids?" Owen asks.

"Yeah but not for something like this. It's an extreme treatment and on minors they use low doses. When the treatment was first developed they used it on everyone, it was a miracle cure and they used it on everyone for nearly any mental illness or perceived mental illness including homosexuality or being transgender. Now it's still used but to be used on a minor of Clare's age seems extreme," Adam says.

The more we talk about it the more agitated Clare gets. She's shaking and clinging to Fitz.

"I'm going to take her back to my room, anyone who wants to can sleep here can," Fitz tells us then he picks Clare up and takes her back to his room.

Bianca gets up to get some water, Jake looks green like he might get sick although the revelation that she's been receiving shock therapy treatments is sickening. Drew takes out his phone sending a text to Dad that we're staying at Fitz's because we're worried about Clare.

"I should stay here," I tell Anya.

"I'll stay with you, I hope Clare's okay," she replies.

"Maybe it's therapy to try and help her talk," Jane suggests.

"No that wouldn't make any sense, they told me she had a breakdown and that's why Uncle Norman took her. She hasn't spoken since she was four and I'm convinced my parents and our uncle don't want her to talk ever again. I have to find a way to get her out of there. I can move out but I can't just take her if they're scared she'll talk they'll take her back and I have no idea what they'll do to Clare. Can I talk to your dad? He's a lawyer right?" Jake asks.

"He's not a family lawyer but yeah and I'm sure he'd know or be able to find out what needs to happen so that you can move out and take Clare with you."

"Then I want to talk to him," Jake says.

"You can come over tomorrow, he's always home on Sundays," Drew tells him and Jake nods.

"I'm going to go check on Clare," Jake comments mostly to Katie but he says it to all of us.

He gets up and goes back to Fitz's room knocking softly before he goes in. Owen and Jane get up and go into the kitchen, Bianca leans on Drew.

"I'm sorry we missed the dance," I say to Anya.

"I don't care I just want to be with you. I'll call my mom and tell her I'm sleeping at Bianca's," Anya comments kissing me before she gets up and gets out her phone.

"Clare's asleep I'm gonna go home I need to think, Fitz will call me if anything happens," Jake tells us when he comes out of the room.

"We'll call you in the morning and we can go back to our house together. Adam and I are sleeping here," Drew tells him.

"Good see you guys tomorrow," Jake nods and then he and Katie say goodbye before they leave.

"We're going back to Jane's place, let us know how tomorrow goes. We'll come back and check on Clare in the morning," Owen says before he and Jane leave.

"Drew and I will take my room, the sofa isn't a pullout but we have an air mattress," Bianca comments.

"Air mattress," Anya speaks up before I can say I'll sleep on the floor.

We get out the air mattress, Drew and I pump it up and Bianca and Anya put sheets on it. I plan to sleep in my clothes but Anya borrows something from Bianca to sleep in.

"I can sleep on the sofa," I remark as Anya gets under the covers.

"No I want to sleep with you," she says lifting the blankets and I still hesitate. "I just want you to hold me Adam, after everything tonight I really just want to be with you."

I smile and get in the bed with Anya, she gives me a tender kiss and rolls on her side. I put my arm around her and fall asleep holding her.

 **(FITZ)**

Clare cries herself to sleep in my arms. When I hear the others going to bed or leaving I fall asleep too. I wake up some time later when Clare is thrashing in the bed, silently sobbing and fighting whoever is hurting her in her dreams. I turn on the light and hold her arms to keep her from thrashing.

"Clare it's okay you're safe, Clare wake up it's me you're safe," I tell her.

She opens her eyes, looks at me, she sees my face in the light and knows she's safe. She sobs again clinging to me and her head falls to my chest, whatever image is left from the dream is haunting her still and her body shakes. I hold her close and rub her back softly.

"You're safe Clare I promise you, you'll never have to go through that again."

She takes a deep shaky breath and reaches for her phone. **I wish I could stay here with you always. I don't want to go home at all I don't want to be there for Christmas Uncle Norman is coming.**

"Jake will sneak you out Christmas night so you can be here and your parents are going to the cabin the next morning Jake says you can stay here while they're gone but he won't be able to sneak out during Christmas day. It will just be Christmas day, on Christmas Eve there's a party at Drew and Adam's we'll all be there. Jake will make sure you can go so it will just be Christmas day and we won't let them take you away ever again, I promise you we won't let them hurt you. I'm curious, why did the strobe light remind you of ECT? Is there flashing lights?"

 **Not on the machine but when it comes on and I'm being shocked I shut my eyes because of the pain and see flashing lights inside my eyes.**

"I'm so sorry Clare but I promise that you will never go through that again. Jake is going to talk to Omar tomorrow so he knows what he needs to do to get you both out of the house. He's going to make sure you can both get out safely and permanently away from your parents."

 **Why would Jake have to get out? They wouldn't send Jake for treatment.**

"No but Jake is worried that they have no limits now, he's worried that whatever secret they're keeping they'll do anything to protect. He said he didn't see any love in their eyes for either of you and he wants to get you both out. He's worried for both of you that's why they stopped fighting them when it came to you, he was worried they'd send him away."

Clare suddenly curls up and begins rocking backing forth, her body shaking.

"Clare you're safe they won't get you again."

She shakes her head and continues rocking, holding her legs to her chest and sobbing.

"Clare your safe," I tell her but she just sobs harder and shakes more and I have no idea what to do. I get up and go to my door, "GUYS," I yell and within a few seconds they all come running.

"What's up?" Drew asks and I show them Clare rocking on the bed in a little ball of tears and fear.

"She woke up from a nightmare and I told her she was safe and then we talked about Jake going to talk to your dad tomorrow. I told her he wanted to get them both out we were talking about Jake making sure they were both safe and she just curled up like that. I keep telling her she's safe and she gets worse."

"She's probably worried about Jake," Anya comments and I feel like an idiot of course she's worried about Jake after that.

"I'll call him," Drew offers stepping out of the room.

"I'll get her some water," Bianca says.

Adam, Anya and I stay in the room with Clare. Sitting on the bed with Clare as she rocks back and forth sobbing. Bianca comes back in with some water, I try to get Clare to drink but it's like she's shut the rest of us out.

"Jake's on his way," Drew tells us.

All we can do is sit there and watch her rock and cry. It feels like it takes a long time but finally Jake arrives, letting himself in with his key and coming back to my room. He looks at Clare and we all back away from the bed so he can sit down next to her.

"Clare," Jake says sitting on the bed and putting his arm around her. She turns to him and clings to her brother, she looks up at him like she wants to say something but puts her head on his chest and begins crying again. Jake looks up at us with a helpless look before looking back at Clare. "It's okay Clare we'll keep you safe. I'll keep us both safe, I'm going to find a way to get us out of there and a place of our own."

Clare reaches for her phone and I hand it to her. **I'm sorry. If I didn't go to DeGrassi or make friends they would still love you.** She types on her phone with her hands shaking so much it takes a while.

"Clare it's not your fault. I'm not sure Mom and Dad have loved us for a while. It's good that you go to DeGrassi and that you have friends. None of this is your fault, we'll be safe I'll make sure you're safe," Jake tells her.

 **No we need to get out now they might**

Clare suddenly stops typing on her phone, whatever she was going to say is unfinished as she drops her phone and breaks down again. She grips tightly to Jake, so tightly it's like she's afraid for him to leave. Jake holds her and the rest of us watch her helplessly. None of us move or leave the room we just watch her, searching for something to say or do. Eventually Clare's body can only take so much and she cries herself to sleep again, still clinging to Jake. He moves her carefully so that she's lying on my bed again.

"I'll sleep the rest of the night here if that's okay? If I can actually get to sleep."

"You can sleep on the sofa," Adam tells him.

"We have to get her out of that house, she shouldn't be that scared for the two of us," Jake sighs.

Everyone is tired but I don't think anyone gets back to sleep. I know I don't, I just lie in bed holding Clare and wondering what she's been through. Every so often Jake will peak in, I think just making sure she's okay. Clare sleeps a long time but everyone else starts moving about dawn. I hear them in the kitchen and shortly after that Jake comes in the room again, Clare is still sleeping and I don't want to leave her.

"I'm going with Adam and Drew to their house to talk to their dad. If she wakes up tell her I'll be back or bring her to their place."

"Yeah I will," I nod brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

Jake gives me a smile, one of appreciation and sort of a serene happiness because of the way I look at his sister. Jake leaves quietly and I watch Clare sleep.

 **(JAKE)**

"You kids are up early," Omar says when I follow Adam and Drew into their house.

"Dad Jake needs to talk to you," Adam tells him.

"Talk about what?"

"How to get Clare away from my parents. She turns sixteen in February but I don't think she'll last that long. I'm genuinely worried about what they might do to her or me. I can move out on my own but she can't and I won't leave her there. I'm worried that my parents will try to keep her somehow, deem her unfit or say she had another breakdown. I want to move out to our own place and bring Clare with me. I'll get a job, drop out if I have to but she's not staying in that house."

"You'll need grounds to remove her under your care. It will be more difficult because of her selective mutism and history of psychiatric treatment."

"She didn't need that treatment, maybe when she was really little but she doesn't need it now," I argue.

"That might be but your parents and your uncle will testify that she did and her selective mutism is an anxiety disorder. The fact that she has an anxiety disorder will make it difficult," Omar tells me.

"I know that but I think they are the cause for her mutism and we found out last night they've been subjecting her to ECT."

"Your parents have been taking her for Electro Convulsive Therapy? Is that even legal for a child that age?" Audra questions.

"It's a fairly rare treatment now but it's not unheard of. I suppose in a low dosage they might be hoping it will get her to talk. I'd have to consult with a psychiatrist friend, it seems like an odd treatment to get her to speak if that's what they are hoping for," Omar comments.

"I don't think they are I believe they don't want her to talk. They send her for treatment when she has a so-called breakdown, they tell me she got hysterical, she's gone for a few days and she comes back broken down. She comes back more silent than ever and afraid, very afraid. She had a nightmare last night and then they called me to say that she was sobbing and scared. When I got there she was afraid for my life she's scared our parents will hurt me. I had no idea my uncle was subjecting her to shock therapy. I have idea how long they've been doing it either, what if they've been doing it since she was four?"

"Now that can't be legal. ECT has so many potential side effects and certainly on a child so young would cause memory loss at the very least," Audra comments.

"Memory loss?" I question.

"It's a potential side effect of ECT at high enough doses," Omar tells me and truly horrific sickening thought occurs to me.

"What if that's the point? Maybe not now exactly but what if they did it to her when she was four and they wanted her to forget something. What if they did something to Clare or something, something she knew about and they needed her to forget?"

"If that's the case we can remove Clare from their custody and possibly even grant you custody but we'd have to be able to prove it. I'll speak with a friend who's a family lawyer and get you in touch with Children's Aide," Omar says.

"They can't speak to my parents. If my parents feel threatened I don't know what they'll do, I don't think they have limits anymore they just care about protecting themselves. If Children's Aide talks to them they may just have her locked away for good."

"They'll be discreet and only talk to you, I will let them know your concerns. The best thing you can do is start keeping notes of anything you think is suspicious or harmful to either you or Clare. Audra and I will help in any way we can but you must realize this won't be an easy case. There's no history of abuse, and there's Clare's mutism and a clinical psychologist as well your parents insisting that she has a fragile mental state."

"I know but I'll do whatever it takes," I reply.

"Okay we will help but you're going to need to stay strong this is not going to be an easy fight without definitive proof of something."

"I know I'll start compiling evidence and when they're gone at the cabin I'll go through their room again. They have papers, files about Clare's care and stuff there might be something in there."

"Good," Omar says, "but if they did do something to Clare or she knows something our best chance will be getting her to testify. Even if she doesn't talk if we can get her to write a statement about whatever it was, or whatever they are doing to her that is probably our best chance."

"That's not going to be easy we've been trying to do that for months," Adam comments.

"Months," I scoff lightly, "I've been trying to get her to tell me for years."

 **The update next Sunday will either pick from them going back to Fitz's house or pick up with Christmas Eve and the party at Adam's, and include Christmas which obviously we didn't get to in this chapter.**


	16. Being Here with You Tonight

**Don't forget that there is no story on Tuesday because I will be at an event that night.**

 **There's also a possibility there may not be a chapter next Sunday or Monday either. I will let you guys know by Friday if there will not be chapters.**

 **The poll on my page on the DeGrassi Saviors website will be coming down on Wednesday as soon as I've posted** _ **Waiting on a Spark that Hasn't Happened Yet.**_ **Make sure you get those votes in now.**

 **As much as I'd like to write long chapters every day the crazy business of work and life make that very hard. So in general expect chapters to be about 3500-4000 words in length that's about an average chapter at this point. If it's very short (under 3000 words) I will let you guys know and on the rare occasion when I have the time/energy for a longer chapter it will be a nice surprise.**

 **Ch. 16 Being Here with You Tonight**

 **(JAKE)**

"How'd it go?" Fitz asks when we walk back into the apartment.

"Audra and Omar are going to help us. He's going to put me in touch with a family lawyer and Children's Aide," I tell them and Clare starts shaking her head wildly.

 **If Children's Aide interviews Mom and Dad they'll send me away.** Clare types on her phone and shows it to me. Of course everyone looks to see what she said.

"When I talk to them I'll explain that they can't interview Mom and Dad. They won't interview Mom and Dad but I have to talk the lawyer and Children's Aide, I have to figure out what has to happen so that I can move out and become your guardian. I won't let Mom and Dad send you away, if I even think they're thinking of it I'll take you out of the house," I assure Clare.

"Clare was that the first time you'd undergone ECT?" Adam asks her and she shakes her head.

"When did Uncle Norman first subject you to ECT?" I ask her.

 **Right after**

That's all she types on her phone, we assume she's saying right after whatever incident caused her to go mute. She won't elaborate and just looks down biting her lip and holding back tears.

"So you were four?" I ask and she nods. "Did Uncle Norman do it after that? Before this last time I mean?" I question.

 **A few times.**

"We need to be writing this down," Adam comments.

 **Why?**

"Because I need to document all this for the lawyer and Children's Aide. We have to prove that we're in danger because of our parents," I explain and Clare releases her lip as she begins typing again.

 **Jake if Mom and Dad even suspect that we spoke to the cops. If they think I'm comfortable enough with people to tell them they'll send me away. They'll have Uncle Norman commit me to his hospital.**

"Tell people what Clare?" Fitz asks.

Clare looks at him and then me, she bites her lip and begins to tremble. At first it's hardly perceptible but soon she's shaking violently as if having a seizure and she's not looking at any of us she's looking past all of us. Some scene plays out in front of her eyes, we all watch her eyes become wide with shock and terror. She's shaking so violently she drops her phone. She bites into her lip harder, gnawing on it to the point of drawing blood. She curls up and starts crying and she's breathing heavy and labored like it's hard for her to get air.

"Guys I think she's having a panic attack," Adam speaks up. Fitz and I each put our arms around her and attempt to hold her.

"Clare you're safe, it's okay you're safe," I tell her but it doesn't seem to be getting through to her.

"Clare you're okay, breathe you're safe and surrounded by people who care about you and would never hurt you," Fitz tells her.

"Clare deep breaths, deep slow breaths you're safe," Adam says.

It takes a moment of all of us touching her arm or holding her and telling her she's safe for her to finally take a deep breath. A moment later she stops trembling, when her tears stop she looks up, she's no longer biting her lip but it is bleeding.

"Come on Honey let's go clean that lip," Bianca says helping Clare up and she walks her back to the washroom.

"What did she see?" Fitz asks.

"I have no idea. I can't even begin to fathom what she might have witnessed at that age that would not only traumatize her that way but something our parents never want her to speak of. We need to write this down, where's her phone get it all down everything she said, how she broke down, what she said about the ECT. Write it all down it's just more evidence for the lawyer. If they know how terrified she is of Mom and Dad maybe I can get us out of the house by the new year."

"I'm documenting everything," Adam comments writing on a piece of paper and getting everything from Clare's phone.

"Can she sleep her again tonight?"

"Yeah of course," Fitz nods.

"I'll make an excuse for our parents, tell them it's school related. We'll both stay out of the house as much as possible. As long as they don't think she's going to talk I don't think they'll care. I'll probably sleep at Mo's tonight but if something happens call me."

"I'll take good care of her," Fitz assures me.

"I'm going to go check on Clare, if she's doing okay I think I'll leave. Go home and tell Mom and Dad something."

"She'll be fine, we'll hang out for the day," Adam remarks.

"Yeah we can call Anya, Owen and Jane and everyone can hang out here, we'll get her mind off whatever it is," Fitz tells me.

"Good, that would be good for her," I nod and get up going back to the washroom. I knock on the door and Bianca lets me in. Clare is sitting on the counter holding tissue on her bleeding lip.

"Are you feeling okay?" I ask and she nods. "You're going to sleep here again, I'll sleep at Mo's and make up something for Mom and Dad. They're going to call Anya, Owen and Jane and see if they can come over. You guys will hang out here and watch movies. I was going to go over to Katie's but I'll stick around if you want me to?"

Clare smiles and shakes her head. I know that it means she'll be okay and I should go to Katie's and have fun.

"If anything at all happens Fitz will call me and I'll come straight here," I assure her and she nods.

I kiss her forehead and leave the washroom. I say goodbye to the others and get in my truck. The closer I get to home the angrier I get. Thinking of my parents, the possibilities of what they may have done, of the other abuses they may have put her through to keep her quiet.

"Where did you go off to so early son?" Dad inquires.

"Went out with Mo we were working a job. There's a lock-in at the school tonight, movies and stuff all night and none of the kids can leave. Principal Simpson wants Clare and I to work at it. He thinks it would be good for Clare since she's been so reserved after the hospital. He's worried about her," I tell them. I'm goading them and hoping the fact that sending Clare to the hospital was noticed they'll be more lenient to make things appear normal. I watch my parents exchange a look, a look of fear, a look of guilt, of hiding a secret.

"That sounds like a good idea, just watch your sister. Make sure it's not too much for her," Mom says.

"Make sure you're both back tomorrow morning," Dad comments.

"Yeah we will I just came to grab our stuff we need to go set up," I reply and go upstairs.

I pack a bag for myself but Clare already has everything she needs at Fitz's place. I pack quickly and get out of there, I don't want to be here around them because all I can think about is what they might have done and what it's doing to Clare. I leave by shouting a goodbye and get back in my truck, as I drive to Katie's I call Mo and see if it's cool that I sleep over tonight. He says it's cool and then I call Principal Simpson.

"Archie Simpson."

"It's Jake Martin I need a favor it's for Clare's safety," I tell him when he answers.

"What is it?"

"I need to talk to you can we meet at the school?"

"Sure I can be there in ten minutes," Simpson replies. I hang up and drive to the school instead of Katie's. I park and get out waiting at the front doors. When Mr. S gets there he unlocks the door and we go in to his office. "What is it Jake? Is it Clare?"

"She's okay right now she's with Fitz. It's our parents I'm worried about, I've already spoken to Audra and Omar Torres and they're going to help me get custody of Clare and move out on our own. I'm certain that they are the cause of her mutism. She knows something and they don't want her to talk. I just found out they've been sending her to my uncle who's been subjecting her to electro shock therapy since she was four years old."

"To get her to talk?"

"No I believe it was to suppress her talking, I don't think they ever want her to talk," I reply. I tell him everything we know, everything we suspect, and everything Omar and Audra Torres said. "So trying to keep her out of the house I have to make excuses to my parents. If they knew she had a boyfriend they'd send her away again or worse. I thought it was important for you to know all this but I also lied to them and told them we'd be here tonight for a lock in. Clare will sleep at Fitz's place, she does it all the time, but my parents would never allow that so I told them there was a lock-in at the school. I don't think that they'll check and I know it's wrong to ask you to lie for me but I had to tell them something and that's what I could think of. A school event is something they would let her out of the house for."

"I wouldn't normally lie for a student but I understand your reasoning in this case. If you're parents check I'll corroborate your story. Just try not to make a habit of me being your alibi. We'll do what we can to keep your parents away from the school and Clare while she's here and I'll help in any way I can to make sure both you and Clare are safe."

"Thank you Sir," I smile.

I shake his hand before leaving and then drive to Katie's, I didn't actually check to see if she would be home I was just sort of counting on it. I park and ring the doorbell and Maya answers.

"Hi Jake," she smiles and steps aside so I can come in. "KATIE JAKE IS HERE," Maya calls into the house and Katie comes out.

"Hey, you look tired," Katie comments before kissing me. She takes my hand and pulls me into the family room where Maya practices her music but she's gone to her room so we're alone. We sit on the love seat in front of the window and I sink down, my arms on my legs and my head in my hands. I start crying, I can't help it, as though tears that have been building for years suddenly break free and over flow. "Jake?" Katie asks with a worried tone as she puts a hand at my back.

"All these years, this whole time my parents have been abusing Clare. Sending her for shock treatments to keep her from talking, to suppress her memories. Putting her life in danger to save their own! And I ignored it! All of it, I knew something was not right but I never did anything I just let them scare her into silence."

"Jake you were a child you couldn't have done anything but you were always a good brother. And you are doing something now. Whatever your parents did it's not your fault Jake. Don't blame yourself, being weighed down by guilt won't help you get you and Clare out of the house."

"I'm going to get us out; I don't care what it takes. They don't care what happens to us and I just want us to be away from them for good. It might not have been my fault when I was young but if they hurt her again and I do nothing that will be my fault. I won't let it happen, if they try to hurt her again I'll kill them myself."

 **(CLARE)**

 **Do you think Mom and Dad know?** I write on the blackboard by my bed and show it to Jake.

"No they don't know a thing and they won't I promise you," Jake assures me.

Yesterday he met with a lawyer and a woman from Children's Aide. Audra and Omar were there with him and he found out everything he needs to do and what has to happen for him to not only move out but get guardianship of me so we can move out together. I was at Fitz and Bianca's so I didn't see him. Today is Christmas Eve, Fitz returned me very early this morning and Jake snuck me in so it appeared to our parents as if I'd been here all night. We spent most of the day together and they've already left for a Christmas Eve party at one of Dad's clients. Jake and I both have been on our best behavior at the house so they won't suspect anything and won't watch me so closely.

 **Uncle Norman is coming tomorrow morning.**

"He won't do anything, I won't let him, he'll only be here for Christmas Day and as soon as they're gone the next morning I'll take you to Fitz's house. Come on we should leave for the party at Adam's house."

 **I wanted to get Fitz something for Christmas but I don't have any money and I don't know what to get him.**

"I'm sure the only thing Fitz wants for Christmas is to be with you," Jake says as we leave my room. He locks up the house and we get into his truck driving to Adam's house for the Christmas Eve party and go in through the basement.

"Hey you're here Merry Christmas," Adam grins and hugs me as we walk in.

"Hey guys Merry Christmas," Drew grins.

"Merry Christmas," Owen smiles walking in with Jane. He looks at me and his eyes glance up before he smiles and kisses my cheek. "Mistletoe," he explains pointing up and I see the mistletoe hanging.

"My turn," Fitz grins walking over he smiles and loops his arms around me. I lace my arms around his neck and he ensnares my lips for a gentle but passionate kiss. "Merry Christmas Beautiful," Fitz says when our lips part and I grin.

Jane, Anya, Bianca and the Torres parents also say Merry Christmas. A few of the members from the school board who work with Audra are here, as well as some of the lawyers from Omar's firm. Other people from school arrive including Katie, Dave and Alli, Eli, K.C. and Jenna, Julian and a few other guys from the football team. Fitz and I sit by the fireplace for a while until it gets too hot and we move to the sofa. I eat and listen to everyone talk and the music, enjoying being happy and spending time with Fitz and my friends. The party goes long into the night, ending after midnight and Jake takes us home. Before we leave I kiss Fitz goodnight and he says he'll see me tomorrow. Jake told them about the party and that we'd be home late, we find them asleep when we get home.

"Uncle Norman is coming early but you can stay in your room and pretend to be sleeping until Mom makes you come down," Jake tells me walking me to my room.

 **Merry Christmas Jake.**

"Merry Christmas Sis," Jake says kissing my forehead before he leaves my room.

I get ready for bed but at first I can't sleep. All I can think about is that Uncle Norman will be here tomorrow and what happened last time I saw him. I become agitated and anxious, my heart is pounding and I'm worried about tomorrow. Usually I go to Jake's room when I feel this way and wake him up but tonight I don't want to wake him. I'm sure Jake has lost months of sleep in the last eleven years because of me. I want to be with Fitz but I can't go over there so I text him.

 **Clare: Are you awake?**

 **Fitz: What's up Ethereal Eyes?**

 **Clare: I can't sleep. Worried about Uncle Norman being here tomorrow.**

 **Fitz: Stay close to Jake he won't let anything happen to you. You'll only be there during the day and Jake will sneak you out then you'll be here with me.**

 **Clare: I know but the last time I saw Norman he took me to his hospital and I**

I can't bring myself to type out what happened at the hospital so I hit send, biting my lip and trying to fight back the tears.

 **Fitz: He won't get you again. Jake and me and everyone else we won't let him or your parents or anyone ever hurt you again. Don't think about any of that imagine I'm there and holding you like I will be tomorrow night.**

 **Clare: I love being in your arms.**

 **Fitz: And I love having you in my arms. Try and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow night. Merry Christmas Ethereal Eyes.**

 **Clare: Merry Christmas My Knight.**

I put down my phone and close my eyes. I imagine Fitz is in bed with me with his arms enveloping me, shielding me like a blanket. I can almost feel him and I fall asleep happy now, dreaming all night about Fitz. I wake up when I hear the doorbell ring and I know it's Norman. I don't want to see him so I get up and shower, I take as long as possible to get ready but eventually Mom tells me to come down and eat breakfast.

"You'll sit next to me, just remember to answer questions but don't talk about Fitz or anything. Talk about how well you're doing in school. Be polite but stay away from Norman and Mom and Dad, stay by me I'll do most of the talking," Jake tells me before we go downstairs. I nod and he goes down first, I follow him down and smile as politely as possible when I become visible.

"Well there they are, Merry Christmas kids let's sit down and eat breakfast and then we'll open presents," Mom insists.

"You're looking well Clare are you feeling better?" Norman asks as we sit down to eat. I simply nod with a polite smile in response. "Good," he grins back.

Mom made pancakes for breakfast, I eat with my head down most of the time and just nod or shake my head for most of their questions. Thankfully they don't ask me many. They ask Jake a few and he talks about school and Katie, he also mentions how well I'm doing in school and how impressed the teachers are with me but that's it. After breakfast and cleaning up we sit in the living room to open presents. Norman got Mom and Dad an expensive blender, he gave Jake and I gift cards. Mom and Dad got each other the most presents, as they always do, but they give Norman a gift card to his favorite restaurant and a new tie. Mom and Dad got Jake and me some new clothes and gave Jake some new tools and me some books. After presents Mom calls her parents then Glen and Norman call theirs while Jake finds a Christmas movie to watch. We clean up the wrapping paper and the adults talk and help Mom cook dinner while Jake and I watch Christmas movies on TV. I want to text Fitz but I don't want Mom and Dad to see. They would wonder who I was texting and Mom would take my phone.

Christmas dinner is much the same as breakfast, I keep my head down and nod or shake my head as a reply to the occasional question. Jake doesn't even talk that much, not that they ask him many questions. Mom does most of the talking and Dad talks about various jobs and clients. After dinner we have dessert, the adults have coffee and we have hot chocolate. Thankfully Uncle Norman leaves after dinner and as soon as he's gone I feel like I can breathe. Mom and Dad are leaving early for the cabin so they go to bed pretty early but Jake has on another Christmas movie and tells Mom and Dad we'll go to bed when it's over. We're not going to bed; he's going to sneak me out to Fitz's place as soon as they're asleep. We watch the movie for about an hour before he goes upstairs and checks to see if Mom and Dad are asleep before grabbing our coats and we leave.

In the weeks and many nights I've slept at Fitz's house I've brought over clothes and keep basic toiletries over there. Bianca also lets me borrow things when I need to so I almost never have to bring anything with me. Jake drives me to the apartment building and walks me upstairs but we let ourselves in with Jake's key. Fitz is still awake and gets up when we come in.

"I doubt that Mom and Dad will bother to say goodbye tomorrow morning but I'll make it seem like Clare is in the shower when they get up so they don't try and say goodbye to her. I'll let you know when they're gone," Jake tells me and I nod. "Mom and Dad won't be back until after New Year's. You can stay here for most of the time but should probably come home for a couple of nights. Fitz you can come and sleep over when she comes home," Jake comments.

"Yeah I will thanks Jake," Fitz smiles.

"Call me if anything happens," Jake says and Fitz tells him he will. I hug Jake and he leaves to go home. When the door is closed and locked I kiss Fitz and he brings me to the sofa.

 **Where's Bianca?**

"Still at work, she's closing tonight and probably won't get home until about two. How was your Christmas?"

 **It was okay, a pretty typical Christmas I guess. I got clothes and books and a gift card. I'm glad to be here with you though. Did you have a nice Christmas?**

"Yeah not bad, Bianca spent the day with the Torres family until she had to work. I spent it at Owen's, had dinner there and everything and came home a couple of hours ago. Drew and Adam got me and Bianca a game system that plays movies too. Owen's family got me some clothes and a CD I wanted. I called my mom to say Merry Christmas but we only talked a couple minutes. I'm happy to have you here now with me and in my arms. Are you tired?" He asks and I shake my head. "What would you like to do?"

 **Get in bed and have you hold me.**

"Let's get ready for bed then," Fitz grins.

He makes sure everything is locked and leaves a light on for Bianca when she gets home. We get ready for bed and I sleep in one of his shirts while he sleeps in sweats but shirtless. He puts his arm around me and I smile, kissing his chest before using my finger to spell something out on his bare chest.

 **I L-O-V-E Y-O-U M-A-R-K** I scrawl across his chest slowly and he kisses the top of my head.

"I love you too Clare," he grins, "I love you more than anything."

 **There may or may not be an update next week it depends on a few things but I will let you guys know if there will not be one. The update will likely begin with New Year's.**


	17. Long Broken Arm of Human Law

**I'm back! Sorry for the sudden and unexpected break last week but there was just too much going on between work and personal life.**

 **Make sure you visit the DeGrassi Saviors site and my page for the daily clue and the full writing schedule. June and July calendars are up and August will go up after One Shot Week in July.**

 **The calendar will be changing a little in August, things are so busy now that posting every day is just too much and it's leading to a lot of skipped chapters. So I will no longer be posting weekly one shots, I will be doing one shot weeks every two months instead of three and a one shot month. All together it will be roughly the same amount, if not more, of one shots posted while still giving me a day without posting. One Shot Month is Monday, September 5** **th** **– Sunday, October 2** **nd** **this year.**

 **Ch. 17 Long Broken Arm of Human Law**

 **(FITZ)**

I walk into Owen's place with my arm around Clare. It's New Year's Eve and Owen's family is throwing a party at their house so of course we're all here. Jake and Katie are coming too and I believe Katie is bringing her kid sister Maya who is Tristan's age. Clare's been at my place all week and she's been happy, I've had to work but she would either go to Adam's or just hang out at my place.

"Happy New Year's," Owen grins when we come in, "you guys want something to drink?"

"Pop," Bianca requests and Clare nods.

Drew, Adam and Anya are already here and Bianca greets her boyfriend with a kiss. When Jake, Katie and Maya come in Clare greets them. Owen introduces Maya to Tris and they begin talking. When Clare goes off to use the washroom Jake tugs at my sleeve and pulls me outside.

"I spent most of the week going through my parent's room but I didn't find anything. At least not anything helpful. Some medical records on Clare and a little correspondence between our parents and Uncle Norman, all of which I'm sure is bad but it all seems relatively innocent."

"You didn't think they'd leave you a signed confession or something did you?"

"No of course not but I was hoping for something to at least back up my suspicions. I still made copies of it all and I'm compiling it all together. Katie's dad gave me a job to help renovate the kitchen so it's easier for Mrs. Matlin to use the kitchen. I've signed all the paperwork for me to move out and it's ready to file. I have all the paperwork filled out to be Clare's guardian and for her to move out but some parts are missing. I don't think my parents will let her leave, not if they think she can talk and will tell whatever it is. If it were just the two of them they probably couldn't keep Clare at the house, they wouldn't be able to say she's not ready to move out but with my uncle they probably can. The testimony of a clinical psychologist, even one related to us, will hold a lot of weight in court."

"We'll get her out, you'll both get out and be away from them," I assure him. "Come on it's cold we should get back inside, anyway I'm sure Clare is wondering where we went."

We go back inside and I put my arm around Clare. We spend most of the time talking with our friends. Well I talk, Clare doesn't even type on her phone much she mostly just smiles and shakes or nods her head. At midnight I count down with the others and kiss Clare.

"Mom and Dad will be back around noon tomorrow so you can sleep at Fitz's place again tonight but be back in the morning," Jake tells Clare just before we leave and she nods.

"I have to be at work by ten anyway I'll drop her off on my way," I inform him.

We say goodnight to everyone and drive back to my place with Bianca. When we get home Bianca says goodnight and goes back to her room, she has to work tomorrow but not until noon.

 **Are you tired?** Clare types on her phone and shows it to me when we're sitting in bed.

"Not really," I reply.

 **I don't want to go home tomorrow; it's been nice to be here with you all week. I don't want to go back and see my parents again.**

"I know, none of us do but we can't get you out of the house for good without proof that your parents are harming you. Jake has all the paperwork ready but we have to make sure they can't take you back. If I thought they wouldn't try and take you back I'd just have you stay here. But they will try and take you won't they? They'll take you back to keep you from talking because they're hiding something right? Some dark terrible secret that you know and they don't want you to share right?"

She doesn't respond but she does curl her head into my chest and bursts into tears. It's all the answer I need, the way she's shaking and sobbing I know I'm right. I rub her back softly and she cries herself to sleep. I watch her sleep for a while and slowly begin to drift to sleep myself but all I can dream about is what Clare's parents might have done that stole her voice for the last eleven years.

We wake to my alarm, Clare lifts her head and rubs her eyes. I sit up and kiss her forehead before getting out of bed. I get ready for work while Clare gathers most of her stuff but she leaves some things here for the next time she stays over. When I'm ready for work we get in my car and I drive her home. I grab her bag and walk her to the door she unlocks it and we go in. I call to Jake that we're here so he doesn't think his parents are home.

"I love you, I'll text you tonight when I get off work," I tell her.

She smiles and takes my hand, **I L-O-V-E Y-O-U** she writes in my palm. I grin and cup her face in my hands taking her lips for a soft kiss. Our lips are still attached when Jake comes down the stairs. I say hi and bye to Jake, Clare waves and I leave to go to work. The day goes by pretty fast, it's kind of a non-stop rush because there's no school today. When I get off work, I take food to-go and drive home, I sit in the living room and start eating while I text Clare.

 **Fitz: Hey Ethereal Eyes how'd it go with your parents?**

 **Clare: It went okay. They knew someone had been in their room but Jake told them he heard a mouse and they believed him. They talked about their trip over dinner and I've spent most of the day in my room.**

 **Fitz: Well at least you guys didn't get in trouble. I love you.**

 **Clare: I love you too and I miss you already.**

 **Fitz: I miss you too.**

 **(JAKE)**

"Are you tutoring Fitz after school?" I ask Clare as we walk through the snow to the front steps of school.

School is back in session after winter break and our parents have been home for five days. Clare's been sleeping at Fitz's house most nights but sometimes had to sleep at home. Our parents have gotten a little more suspicious since returning from the cabin. I try to sneak her out as much as I can, I don't feel safe with her at home with our parents at all.

 **I think so, he has a few classes he's not so sure about but I don't know if I can tutor him in anything but physics.**

"Yeah I've got physics too you might be tutoring us both," I comment and Clare smiles.

 **I'm gonna go find Fitz or Adam. I'll see you after lunch.** She types on her phone and walks off. I wasn't paying too much attention when I was deciding on classes for this semester and ended up in two electives with Clare. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing because I can keep an eye on her that way.

"Hey handsome," Katie grins greeting me with a kiss.

"Hi," I smile.

"Any progress?" She questions as we walk to our lockers.

"Nothing new, all the paperwork is filled out as much as it can be but I don't have any tangible evidence that our parents caused her selective mutism just suspicion. Still writing it all down and keeping track of everything they do that's even a little suspicious."

"You look tired," Katie remarks brushing her thumbs under my eyes before I open my locker.

"I've started having this nightmare that our parents figure out what I'm doing and send Clare away to some mental institution and I never see her again. Then they send me to military school."

"Sounds terrible but I'm sure they won't and even if they do we would never let them send you or Clare away," Katie says.

"I know," I smile and kiss her cheek.

We join Mo and Marisol and hang out until the bell rings. I have physics first period and find Fitz in the classroom so I sit next to him.

"Clare's going to tutor me at The Dot after school in physics," Fitz tells me.

"Yeah I might join you not sure I'm going to understand this class any more than you do," I reply.

The teacher comes in and starts class so we stop talking. For second period I have art and so does Owen. I eat lunch with Katie, Mo and Marisol and then have both my afternoon classes with Clare. When school lets out she and Fitz go to The Dot so she can tutor him and I go with them. She helps us both with the physics homework and even helps Fitz a little with his Canadian law homework before he has to get to work. Clare says goodnight to Fitz and we go home. The next couple of days are pretty much the same, Clare sleeps at Fitz's house Tuesday night and Wednesday she wakes up from a nightmare and comes into my room. She doesn't sleep again that night and Thursday she seems quieter and sadder. She won't even look at Mom and Dad and breakfast, but she is really happy to see Fitz when we get to school. She does tutor me and Fitz at The Dot after school and we get home just before Mom and Dad.

"How was school kids?" Mom asks.

"Fine," I reply and Clare just looks at her book.

"I'm making spaghetti for dinner," Mom tells us.

"Sounds good," I reply and Mom smiles before going upstairs to change. "Are you okay?" I ask Clare and she just nods. "Did Mom and Dad do something?" I ask her but she just shakes her head and grabs her chalkboard.

 **I'm going to go shower.**

She goes upstairs and a couple minutes later I hear the shower starting. I finish my homework and Mom asks me to set the table. Dad gets home and when Clare doesn't come down for dinner Mom makes me go get her.

"Dinner's ready," I tell her after knocking on her door.

 **Not hungry.** She writes on her chalkboard and shows it to me.

"Clare what's wrong? If Mom and Dad did something you can tell me," I persist.

 **They didn't. Just not feeling so hot.**

"Okay," I sigh, "I'll bring you up some food later."

Clare gives me a small smile and I leave her room going downstairs again.

"Where's your sister?" Dad questions when I get downstairs.

"She's not hungry, said she's not feeling very well."

"Is she sick? Maybe I should check on her," Mom says.

"I think she's okay just tired, probably that time of the month or something," I tell them. I know it's not because when she's on her period there signs of it in the washroom like she leaves her box of tampons out. "I told her I'd bring her a plate," I insist hoping to keep them from checking on Clare and upsetting her more.

Mom and Dad do most of the talking over dinner and Dad wants me to do the dishes after dinner. First I put a plate together and take it up to Clare, I don't knock on her door just open it. She's sitting on her bed on her phone, I assume she's texting Fitz or maybe Adam. Either way I hope she's telling them what's bothering her.

"Here's some dinner, I told them you were just tired and it was probably your period but it might not keep them from checking on you."

 **Thanks Jake.**

"When you're ready to talk I'm here."

 **I know.** Clare writes and smiles before kissing my cheek.

She seems to be a little better so I leave her to eat and keep talking with whoever she's talking to. I go downstairs and wash the dishes before going to my room and call Katie. I talk to her for a couple of hours. I shower and get ready for bed, I check on Clare and she insists she's going to bed. I do some stuff on my computer before going to bed myself. I fall asleep pretty quickly and start having a sexy dream about Katie when I'm jolted awake.

 **AAAAGGHHHHH**

The blood curdling scream jerks me from my dream and I fall out of my bed. The scream continues and I realize it's coming from Clare's room! I jump up opening my door at the same time my parents come out of their room and we run to Clare's room. I open the door first and turn on the light, Clare is in her bed and still screaming. She's actually screaming! It's the first sound to come from her mouth in eleven years and it's an alarmingly chilling scream.

I run to the bed and take Clare by the arms, "Clare wake up you're safe."

She gasps and her eyes bolt open, she sees Mom and Dad in the doorway and starts shaking and crying. She grips onto me crying on my chest but she's not just gripping me because she's crying she's gripping me out of fear.

"She screamed," Mom comments with shock in her tone.

"I'm calling Norman; this is serious she actually screamed. I think she needs to go for emergency treatment," Dad remarks but he doesn't sound worried about Clare in fact his voice is cold and almost detached.

"Perhaps it's time to hospitalize her," Mom says with the same sort of detached and cold voice.

"NO YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!" I yell at them.

"Jake we're concerned about your sister, we're only trying to do what's best for her," Dad tells me.

"No you're not, I don't think you ever were. You both stay away from her," I growl shielding Clare from them.

"Jake don't get hysterical," Mom comments.

"Come on Clare we're leaving," I tell her keeping hold of her and standing up.

"You can't leave, she's a minor you can't just take your sister," Dad asserts.

"I'm not letting you send her to Norman we're leaving now," I insist keeping hold of Clare's hand as we walk toward the door.

"No," Dad says stepping forward and reaching for Clare.

I'm not about to let him take Clare or touch her at all. I make a fist and punch him as hard as I can. My hand hurts like hell but it knocks Dad down and we run past Mom and down the steps. We don't get dressed, don't put on shoes, I just I grab my keys by the door and we run outside and into the car. I don't even close the front door we just hop in and I start driving. I drive straight to Fitz and Bianca's apartment, if it wasn't two in the morning the fact that we were running through the apartment building barely dressed would seem odd but at this late hour no one is in the hallways. I unlock the front door to the apartment and without meaning to I slam the door but I'm so full of adrenaline and afraid that our parents are after us and are going to do something to Clare. I lock the door but the sound of the door slamming wakes Fitz and Bianca and they come out of their rooms turning on a light.

"What's going on? Why are you guys barely dressed?" Bianca asks rubbing her eyes while Clare runs straight for Fitz's arms.

"She woke up screaming, she was actually screaming. She hasn't made a sound in eleven years and she was screaming," I tell them as I lean against the wall. Now that we're safe the adrenaline is starting to leave me.

"She screamed?" Fitz questions stroking her hair.

"Yeah a bloodcurdling scream and our parents heard it. They were about to call Norman and were talking about hospitalizing her. She was scared and I was sure if they sent her to a hospital we'd never see her again so I punched dad and we ran here where I knew we'd be safe."

"You're safe here but this is serious," Bianca comments.

"Yeah I have to do something but I still have no proof of anything and Clare's not in any condition to do anything tonight," I comment looking at my sister trembling in Fitz's arms.

"You're both safe here. I'll take care of Clare," Fitz says and I nod.

"I'll get you a pillow and some blankets, I'm assuming you're not going to sleep but just in case. There's some good movies on the DVR," Bianca tells me.

"Thanks."

Bianca brings me, blankets and pillows and tells me to get her if I need anything. I turn on the TV as she turns off the light. I don't sleep at all for the rest of the night and everyone gets up for school the next morning. I see Clare when she leaves Fitz's room for the washroom.

"Did you learn anything?" I ask Fitz.

"No she didn't write anything or make a sound. She just clung to me and cried until she fell asleep. I don't think she should go to school it will be the first place your parents look and they'll be able to take her from school. Plus, she's scared and I think she should stay here. I can stay with her or you can stay with her but I don't think she should be alone."

"Yeah I agree; you stay with her I'll go to school a…I have no clothes."

"You can borrow whatever you need," Fitz replies.

"Thanks I'm not sure I should be going to school but I want to talk with Simpson and Turner. I also want to tell Katie, Drew, Adam and Owen in person. I'll go to the house after they leave for work and get some clothes and stuff for the both of us."

"Sounds like a plan. Keep me updated and I'll keep her safe, your parents don't know about this place or me and if they somehow find out I won't let them near Clare," Fitz assures me.

"Good," I reply just as Clare comes out of the washroom. "I'm going to school and I'll stop by the house t…" I'm saying when Clare grabs me and shakes her head vigorously and has tears in her eyes. She's worried about me going back to the house. "Don't worry I won't go back to the house when Mom and Dad are there but I need to talk to people and I need to get us some clothes and things from the house so we don't have to go back. I'm going to borrow some clothes from Fitz and go to school with Bianca. Fitz will stay here with you and I'll explain it to Simpson, I'll be back I promise."

"Why don't we get them some breakfast while Jake gets some of my clothes to wear," Fitz suggests to her and Clare reluctantly lets go of me.

They go into the kitchen and I go into Fitz's room, I find jeans, a t-shirt, a hoodie, socks and combat boots. They all fit pretty well when I get them on. When I come out Clare has a plate of eggs and toast for me and Bianca is eating. I eat quickly, assuring Clare one more time that I'll be back and I'll be okay before Bianca and I leave for school. She rides with me in my truck assuming that Drew, Adam and Owen will want to come back here after school and she can ride with one of them. I park at the school and we get out walking to the entrance together.

"I don't know what we're going to do, I don't have everything to move out yet."

"Yeah but she screamed, she made a sound that means something. Maybe it's enough to get her out, especially since she was so afraid of your parents."

"Yeah I hope…"

"Jake Martin?" Someone asks and I turn around to see a man in a suit.

"Yeah?" I inquire cocking an eyebrow and the man waves to someone then an officer walks over.

"Your under arrest for assault and kidnapping," the man in the suit says while the officer pulls my arms behind my back and puts handcuffs on me.

My heart is pounding, my parents actually had me arrested and I can only pray they don't know where Clare is.

 **So mean aren't I? The update next Sunday will probably begin with Fitz's pov.**


	18. Never Tell a Soul

**A short one again sorry but Sundays have been very busy lately. But I left it on another lovely cliffhanger for you!**

 **Ch. 18 Never Tell a Soul What You Know is the Truth**

 **(FITZ)**

"It's Bianca," I tell Clare when my cell rings. She and Jake just left for school a short while ago so they should have just gotten there a few minutes ago. I assume Bianca's calling to tell me that Clare's parents are at the school. "Hey B," I answer.

"Jake's been arrested."

"Jakes been arrested?" I exclaim from the shock not thinking that Clare is standing right next to me and can hear me.

Her eyes go wide with panic, her breathing becomes fast and shallow. She starts shaking her head wildly as tears flood from her eyes. She grabs my hand and begins pulling me to the door.

"We're going down there, call Audra and Omar and tell Simpson if he doesn't already know. Officer Turner too," I tell her as I get my shoes on.

"Owen's already here and I just saw Audra bring Drew and Adam, we'll meet you there," Bianca tells me and hangs up.

"They'll meet us there," I tell Clare grabbing my keys and wallet before we leave the apartment. Clare is anxious and worried all the way to the police station and by the time we go in she's soaked with tears. "We need to speak to Officer Turner," I tell the officer at the desk.

"What happened to her?" He asks and Clare just shakes her head. "Have a seat and I'll tell him you're here," the officer replies. Clare shakes her head again and runs for the door leading to the back. "Hey," the officer yells as I chase after her and we both go through the door. All the officers look at us but Clare's looking around for Jake.

"Fitz what's going on?" Officer Turner asks walking over to us.

"Jake was arrested at the school Clare's worried about him," I say and Clare makes a motion to write.

Officer Turner hands her a notepad and pen he grabs from a desk. **I want to see my brother. They'll hurt him.**

"Clare the officers won't hurt him," Turner tells her and she shakes her head again.

 **No our parents. Let me see Jake please.**

"Your parents why would your parents hurt Jake?" Officer Turner asks.

 **Jake. Let me see my brother!** She writes frantically pressing her pen to the paper so hard it rips. Tears flow from her eyes and onto the paper.

"Can you let her see Jake, just for a minute she's really worried about him. You can talk to her after that and our friends are on their way," I persist.

"Alright come on, sit at my desk a moment and I'll figure out where he is," Turner tells us brining us to his desk.

"Officer Turner if her parents come I don't think you should let them see Jake or Clare. It's a matter of their safety."

"I'll take care of it. Wait right here I'll find out if Jake's in holding or if he's in a room."

"It'll be okay I'm sure Jake's okay," I tell Clare when Turner walks away.

She tears off the ripped and tear soaked piece of paper and writes again. **He was arrested because of me!**

"He was arrested trying to protect you."

"Fitz, Clare," Adam calls running over with Drew, Bianca, Owen and Mrs. Torres right behind him.

"Have you seen Jake yet?" Bianca asks.

"No what happened at the school?"

"He's been arrested for assault and kidnapping," Bianca replies and Clare starts crying again.

"Okay Jake is in box 3, Clare can go in and see him since she's family," Officer Turner tells us.

"Jake's lawyer will be here shortly," Audra tells him.

"Come on Clare," Officer Turner says and motioning for Clare and she gets up but she won't let go of my hand.

Turner doesn't say anything he just lets me go into the room with Clare since she won't release my hand. When she does see Jake she releases my hand and runs to her brother to hug him. Jake gets up and hugs his sister tightly. They stay embraced for a moment before letting go.

"I'm okay don't worry, you need to leave before Mom and Dad come they'll send you to the hospital," Jake insists and Clare shakes her head.

"Send her to what hospital Son?" Turner questions.

"They threatened to have her hospitalized last night, in a mental institution. I knew I'd never see again, they threatened to send her away because she screamed. The first sound she's made in eleven years and it was a gut wrenching scream and my parents want to hospitalize her under my uncle's care so that they can be sure she'll never talk again. They've been sending her to him for shock treatments since she was four! They don't ever want her to speak. They're hiding something, something that traumatized her so horribly she stopped speaking. I'm afraid what they'll do to Clare if they get her. When she screamed all they cared about was sending her away so I hit my dad when he tried to take her and we ran. Send me to jail for kidnapping but keep her away from our parents," Jake says with an arm around Clare while she cries and then shakes her head when he says to send him to jail.

"Clare look at me," Officer Turner commands gently and looks up wiping some tears from her eyes. "Is this true?" He asks and she nods.

"They'll tell you she needed the treatments their uncle is a clinical psychologist. He'll say it was for her mutism but it's abuse, they've been keeping her purposely sheltered and mute so she won't tell anyone what she knows," I speak up.

"I'm Grey McKellar, Jake's lawyer," a women's voice causes us all to turn.

"Get her out of here and get her somewhere safe," Jake asserts to me but Clare clings to him and shakes her head. She's afraid to leave him, afraid of what might happen to him. I put my hands on her shoulders and try to move her but she shakes her head again.

"Clare I promise you Jake will not be harmed. Nothing with happen to him and you can come see him later but I need to speak with him," the lawyer assures Clare.

"I'll watch out for him Clare I promise you nothing will happen to Jake," Turner says and she finally lets go of him.

I put my arm around her and we walk back out to the bullpen area where Drew, Adam, Bianca, Owen and Audra are still waiting.

"We should return to our house you'll all be safe there," Audra comments.

Clare picks up a notepad and pen to write. **What about Jake?**

"Grey is from Omar's office she'll take good care of him. Even if he is charged he won't be held and we'll arrange for bond if we need to. When he's released she'll bring him to our house," Audra replies.

After a moment Clare nods slowly and I get her out to my car. Owen and Adam come with us while Drew and Bianca go with Audra. We all go into the basement and Clare grabs the whiteboard Adam began keeping down here for her.

 **My parents will find me. They'll send me away.**

"They can't take you, if they come here we'll tell them you're not here. Daisy Foley from Children's Aide will come to speak with you and Jake along with Jake's lawyer. We have to be able to prove that your parents intend to harm you so we can keep you out their custody and keep you from going back to their custody. In order to do that Clare, you'll have to tell them what your parents did and what's happened to you under your uncle's care besides the ECT. And if you can you'll need to tell them the reason you went mute in the first place."

Clare just starts shaking and hides her head in my chest. I wrap her in my arms, I wish I could shield her from everything.

"Adam, Drew why don't you get everyone a snack I'll go upstairs and call Simpson, I told him I'd keep him updated."

 **I'm worried about Jake; I shouldn't have left him.**

"He'll be okay Clare he'll return with the lawyer," I try to assure her.

Clare sits down but she's terrified and she won't let go of me. She trembles and her leg bounces nervously, tears crowd her eyes. Every time there's a noise outside she hides, worried that it's her parents. I feel so helpless all I can do is try to assure her that it will be okay. When Jake finally does walk through the door Clare runs to him and hugs him tightly.

"I'm okay," he tells her holding her close.

"What happened at the police station?" Owen asks while Jake walks in bringing Clare back to me on the sofa.

"I've been charged with assault and kidnapping. The lawyer said I could probably get the kidnapping charges dropped because I took Clare out of a dangerous situation, afraid for her safety. She also said the assault charges would be minimal and if anything I'd get probation or community service," Jake informs us. This news does seem to give Clare some comfort and I watch her release a breath.

"That's good news," Owen grins.

 **Mom and Dad?**

"I'm not sure but the lawyer said she and the lady from Children's Aide would want to talk to us," Jake replies and then Audra comes downstairs.

"Jake, Clare are you ready to talk?" Audra asks.

 **I want everyone with us.**

"Can they come downstairs? Clare wants us all with her," I tell Audra.

"I suppose for Children's Aide it's okay but the lawyer will have to get individual official statements from each of you later," Audra replies. She goes upstairs and then the three women come downstairs after a few moments.

"Hi Clare I'm Daisy I work with Children's Aide, I've spoken to your brother a few times but I need you to tell me what you can," she says and Clare looks at Jake. "You can write it all out," she says.

"You can use my laptop if you want Clare," Adam offers and she nods a little.

"Jake while she's doing that you can write out your official statement for me," the lawyer says.

"You can use my laptop," Drew tells Jake and he and Adam run upstairs to get their laptops.

When they both have laptops open and on word programs Jake begins typing while Clare sits there and stares at the screen. Her fingers hover above the keys and her hands shake, I'm not sure if she doesn't know where to begin or she's afraid to put it all down.

"Start at the beginning Clare," I whisper to her.

He hands lower slowly to the keys, the very tips of her fingers are on them but she's still not typing yet. Her hands continue to shake and now tears drop from her eyes to the keyboard.

"Clare Honey we need to know what they did so we can keep you safe," Audra encourages in a sweet and motherly voice.

 **I can't.**

"Yes you can Clare," I tell her.

 **No. I can't tell they'll kill us. They told me never to tell anyone. If I tell they'll kill us.**

"I'm sure they'll be angry Clare but th…"

 **NO!** She almost slams the keys down as she types and begins sobbing hard. **No they will kill us. Slit our throats and bash in our heads. They've done it before.**

After typing she turns into me and begins shaking and sobbing so violently she can barely breathe. I stare at the screen and hold her tight then I turn the screen so the others can see.

"Our parents," Jake whispers as he turns green, "murdered someone?"

 **Is that worse than last week? I'll do my best to make next week longer and not leave it on another mean cliffhanger…maybe. Next week will pick up from here in Jake's pov or possibly Fitz again. We are nearing the end of this story, it's not over just yet still a few chapters but we're coming to the end.**


	19. Just a Word from Her Lips

**It's quite short again but I've been with family all weekend. Somewhat ironic that this chapter lands on Father's Day. I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Remember that there are no chapters Monday-Friday this week as I will be busy preparing for our annual event at work but chapters will resume Saturday and be back.**

 **Ch. 19 Just a Word from Her Lips and the Deaf Begin to Hear**

 **(CLARE)**

"Clare Honey we need to know what they did so we can keep you safe," Audra urges but her voice is sweet.

 **I can't.** I type with shaky hands on Adam's laptop.

"Yes you can Clare," Fitz insists putting an encouraging hand on my shoulder.

 **No. I can't tell they'll kill us. They told me never to tell anyone. If I tell they'll kill us.** I type frantically, shaking my head at the thought and trying desperately to keep the memories from my mind.

"I'm sure they'll be angry Clare but th…" Audra is saying but I shake my head harder nearly slamming my hands on the keyboard.

 **NO!** **No they will kill us. Slit our throats and bash in our heads. They've done it before.** I finish typing and turn into Fitz as I begin crying so hard I can hardly breathe.

"Our parents murdered someone?" Jake whispers and sounds like he might throw up; I would understand if he did.

People begin talking quickly, there are a lot of voices and they are all conjecturing or asking questions about who my parents killed. The voices are bringing the memories back and I grip tightly to Fitz's shirt trying my best to not hear the voices or see the memories. It starts to become too much and I feel like I can't breathe.

"Everyone stop," Fitz growls loudly and the room goes quiet. "She's upset and she's stressed she's not going to be able to tell us anything or write out anything. She can barely breathe and she's shaking so hard she can't write or type. She needs to calm down before she can tell us anything. I'm going to take her to my apartment, Adam and Jake should come with us and when she's calmed down and ready to talk I'll bring her back."

"Fitz is right she's about to have an anxiety attack and that could make her go more silent or cause some other mental breakdown, she needs to rest," Owen says.

Some other things are said but I can't really hear them. Then Fitz picks me up and carries me outside, we get into his car but he sits in the back with me while Jake drives us to the apartment. Fitz carries me inside too but I'm shaking so hard I don't think I could walk anyway. My head hurts now from crying and when Fitz sets me on the sofa I lie with my head in his lap, closing my eyes and falling asleep. At first the sleep is peaceful and much needed rest but soon the sleep becomes disturbed by a dream of a memory I've long been hiding in the depths of my mind.

" _Mommy? Mommy?" I call getting off my bed. A loud noise woke me and I search for my mom. I walk to the stairs slowly climbing down. "Mommy? What was that noise?" I look in the living room but she's not there and then a loud noise from upstairs a bang and a sort of scream. The sounds frighten me and I worry about my mother so I slowly climb the stairs again. "Mommy?" I call down the hall, more noises but no response. "Mommy?" I call again filling with a terrible dark feeling. I reach the door of my parent's room reaching up and turning the handle. The door creaks open and I see so much blood! "Daddy?!" I cry. Mommy sees me now and runs over kneeling down and blocking my sight. She's got blood on her and grabs my arms. "You will never tell anyone what you've seen. Never say anything Clare, not a word you will never tell anyone. Never speak of this ever, never tell a soul. You will not say anything…"_

"Clare wake up," Fitz calls shaking my arm gently and my eyes shoot open. Fitz gives me a soft smile when my eyes lock with his. Adam is staring at me with wide eyes and Jake looks somewhere between shocked and relieved. "You were making noises in your sleep, grunts and gasps you sounded afraid," Fitz tells me.

I motion for my whiteboard and Adam hands it to me. **I was having a nightmare about that day.** I write and tears falling from eyes landing on the board and blurring the words.

"I think you should eat something Clare. I'm going to make some lunch," Adam comments getting up and going into the kitchen.

I nod slightly and lean against Fitz, I know they'll ask me what happened that day but I don't want to think about it. I'm afraid to tell. My parents already had Jake arrested and I fear if I tell their secret they will kill me and Jake and dispose of us too.

Jake helps Adam make lunch and they bring it over, I pick up a piece of apple and nibble at it. I don't feel hungry at all but I do feel like I should eat. No one eats very much and we all eat slowly. Then sit silently for a while. I know they have questions for me, things they want to ask me and want me to tell. I can see them thinking, trying to formulate the gentlest way to ask.

 **I want to take a bath.** I write on the whiteboard trying to avoid talking about it a little longer.

"Sure," Fitz nods.

I get up and go to the washroom grabbing a clean towel from the closet and starting the bath. I get in and for a moment the warm water is relaxing and I very briefly forget everything that's happened. Only for a moment though as the memories soon rush back and all I can do is curl up and cry.

"Clare," Fitz calls knocking on the door. I realize the water is cold and I've been in here a while. Fitz opens the door and comes in he drains the water and holds up my towel I stand up and he wraps it around me. "We'll keep you safe Clare, you and Jake I swear to you Clare. I love you and I will never let anyone harm you again," he assures me holding me tightly.

"M…Mark."

 **(FITZ)**

"M…Mark," Clare says my name and my heart skips a beat. Her voice is dry and cracked, rough and hardly audible but it's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

I look at her and placing my fingers under her chin gently tip her face up so can capture her lips. Kissing her passionately and with immense joy, she grips onto me and returns the kiss.

"I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you. But I need help to keep you safe. I know you're scared but you have to tell the lawyer and the Children's Aide lady what your parents did. I'll be with you so will Jake and Adam and all your friends," he encourages and I nod a little. "Get dressed I'll go out and tell Jake."

Fitz leaves and I get dressed, when I leave the washroom Jake and Fitz are sitting on the sofa but I don't see Adam.

"Drew picked up Adam they're giving statements. If you're ready to talk we'll go back to Adam's," Jake tells me.

"W…" she tries and her voice cracks. She clears her throat and begins again, "Wait."

"You talked!" Jake grins excitedly and with great relief that his sister made a noise and he hugs her tightly.

"S…Sc…" Clare tries but her vocal chords are weak. She hasn't spoken in over a decade and forming words is not coming easy. I see that she's trying and getting frustrated so I hand her whiteboard to her. **I'm scared. Mom and Dad will hurt us too. If they know I told they will hurt us.**

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen. We'll make sure they can never harm us or anyone. But we can't do that if we don't know who they killed," Jake tells her.

"Daddy," Clare whispers.

"Dad's not…" Jake stops and then he gasps and his eyes go wide. "Randall, your dad! He disappeared. Our parents said he left but they killed him," Jake says going green and then rushing to the kitchen to throw up in the sink.

"Let's go back to Adam's and you can tell them. Your parents will at least be under investigation and we can make sure with legal help that you never go near them again," I assert. Clare bites her lip hesitating momentarily before she nods slowly. I stand up and pull her with me then we leave my apartment.

I drive us to Adam's and when we go into the basement Adam is giving his statement still but everything stops when we come in. Clare takes my hand and we sit on the mantle with Owen.

"She's ready to tell," Jake says and everyone looks at Clare.

She looks at Adam's laptop and he gets up to hand it to her. While Clare is typing Adam continues with his statement. Owen and I watch Clare as she types. It's somewhat fragmented but she was only four when it happened so it's not surprising. She writes that she remembers Glen being over a lot when her dad was at work. Then one day she heard a commotion that woke her up. She went searching for her mom and when she opened the door to her parent's room she saw her mom hit her dad on the head and then her mom ran to her. All she could see was blood and her mom was telling her never to tell anyone. She remembers her mom and Glen being covered in blood. Her dad lying on the floor motionless while Glen and her mom told her to never tell anyone. She was taken back to her room and she doesn't remember much else from that day but she continued hearing noises until late. Then she heard her mom and Glen open the front door and she went into the room. She remembers blood soaking the floor, bed and furniture. She saw it coating the washroom so heavily that it was like it had been painted red. She watched from the window as her mom and Glen put several garbage bags into his truck. Glen left and her mother came back inside and she ran back to her room. She never saw her father again and never spoke again, until today.

Clare steels herself to get through typing as fast as she can to get it out and sort of goes into a trance. When she finishes she hands the laptop to Owen and puts her head on my chest as she begins to sob again.

"Here this is Clare's statement," Owen says handing the laptop to the lawyer.

Adam's finished giving his statement and Jake's already given several but he's been talking to the lawyer for an hour now. He stops when the lawyer begins reading Clare's statement.

"Can you print this out we need to take all these statements to the judge. This should be enough to take Clare and Jake from their custody at least until a trial. We'll be in touch as soon as we have a ruling."

Grey and Daisy go upstairs with Audra to print Clare's statement and take all the statements to the judge. The rest of us sit silently for a few moments before anyone says anything.

"So your parents murdered Clare's birth father?" Drew asks slowly.

"Yeah I wasn't there but Clare was. It makes sense, she never talked after that and Helen never mentioned Randall. Actually the next time I went to Clare's house Dad told me he and Helen were getting married and we'd be moving in but all pictures of Randall were gone and Dad told me he'd left."

"It's s…" Owen begins when the sliding glass door opens. Everyone's hearts stop beating when Helen and Glen walk in.

"Jake, Clare you're coming home with us now."

 **That's not such a bad cliffhanger right? The update next Sunday will pick up from here.**


	20. All Those Things that were Hidden Away

**I'm back! Things will still be a little on the crazy side until Tuesday and then things will calm down. So expect chapters to be on the shorter side until Wednesday and then should be at least a little longer than they have been.**

 **If you've been to the DeGrassi Saviors site and seen the calendar you know that next week is a normal schedule. Then the 4** **th** **-11** **th** **is One Shot Week which is actually eight days. After that the rest of July is Short Story Month. I will be putting up August and September Calendars sometime after One Shot Week.**

 **Also readers of dragonsprit's stories he will be updating** _ **Stairway to Paradise**_ **this weekend. See his page on the DeGrassi Saviors website for updates and news for his stories as well.**

 **Ch. 20 All Those Things that were Hidden Away**

 **(FITZ)**

"Jake, Clare you're coming with us now," their parents demand. When they came through the basement door everyone froze and our hearts were pounding so much the sound practically resonated through the room.

"Over my dead body," Owen growls being the first to break the silence. He stands up clenching his fists and standing in front of Jake.

"You're not taking them anywhere," Drew says standing with Owen.

"We're taking our children," Glen commands stepping forward.

"NOOO!" Clare screams picking her head up from my chest. Now it's her parents who go silent and their faces turn white. Clare's scream also brings Audra, Grey and Daisy running down the stairs again.

"You two have to leave now," Audra asserts.

"We came for our children," Helen responds in a cold voice looking away from Clare to glare at Audra.

"I'm Daisy Foley from Children's Aide. Jake is old enough to move out on his own and he's chosen to do so I have all the paperwork. Clare is being removed from your custody we're on our way to the judge now."

"I suggest you both leave now as you are trespassing and as far as I'm concerned you're endangering these kids," Grey tells them.

"You have three seconds to get off my property or I'm calling the cops," Audra asserts.

"You can't keep us from our children," Helen growls.

"Actually we can," Grey responds.

"Adam call the police," Audra says.

"We're leaving but we'll get our children," Glen replies and they leave. If they could have slammed the sliding glass door they would have.

"Drew lock the basement door in case they get any ideas about coming back. I'm going to call the cops anyway and report it," Audra tells us and the adults go back upstairs.

Clare is shaking again and hides her head on my chest. All I can do is hold her tight and remind her that I will never let her parents get her again. Anyone that hadn't heard her speak before is looking at her both stunned and happy.

"I want to go home, there must be…" Jake is saying when Clare gets out of my arms and runs to him shaking her head rapidly at the thought of him going home. "If they killed Randall in the house then there's evidence and they can be arrested," Jake clarifies as I get up and walk over to Clare. She's so agitated I'm worried she's going to have a panic attack.

"Nnnn…" Clare tries but it's still hard for her to get words out. Owen hands her his phone so she can type.

 **If you go home I'll never see you again.** She types rapidly with desperate tears in her eyes.

"The cops will investigate but Clare's right we need to keep both of you away from your parents," Owen says.

"I'm not going, I wouldn't do that and definitely wouldn't go back to the house alone but I just want to go find evidence and have them arrested. I want to be done with them for good, I'm ashamed to even call them my parents. I'm not really sure how they kept from killing us years ago if they would kill Randall to stay together and we've always just sort of been in the way. Thinking back on all the things they ever did or said, the way they treated you, so much of it seems to be just to protect themselves and nothing was for our benefit," Jake sighs hugging his sister as calms down a little.

"You guys can stay with us until you get a place of your own or figure out where you are going to stay. Neither of you should go back to that house with your parents there, at least not without an army of cops," I comment.

"Yeah I know I just want them gone, I never want to see either of them again," Jake remarks.

Now that she's sure Jake isn't going home Clare relaxes just slightly and I take her hand so we can sit down again. For a while we just sit there in relative silence, every so often someone will say something under their breath or get up to use the washroom or something. The silence is only broken when Grey and Audra come downstairs.

"Jake you've been granted emergency custody of Clare and she's been removed from your parent's custody and the house. We are working at getting you permanent custody so that your parents can never get her again. Your paperwork has been filed and you can move out on your own and never go back but because of Clare's selective mutism and her history of psychiatric care they might try to have her declared incompetent or mentally unfit. Your parents are being charged with suspicion of murder and will be formally charged tomorrow morning and taken to the station for questioning. They can only be held for so long on suspicion and hearsay but they will be held and during that time Jake and Clare you will be escorted to the house to pack up as much you can. I know you can both stay at Fitz and Bianca's apartment and Audra and Omar have offered for you to stay here as well until we can find you a suitable apartment. Jake I'll need to speak with you a moment," Grey tells him.

"I think you should sleep at Fitz's place tonight. I'll stay here, we'll both be safe," Jake tells Clare and she nods.

"It's going to be okay, you and Jake are going to be safe," I smile at Clare when Jake has gone upstairs with the lawyer and Mrs. Torres.

She smiles and puts her arms around my neck joining our lips for a tender kiss.

 **(CLARE)**

"You need to sleep. Your parents have been arrested you're going to be safe," Fitz tries to assure me.

"Ss…still worried," I say quietly. When I first spoke it was difficult, the whole act of speaking. I'd barely opened my mouth in eleven years and hadn't made a sound, not even when I was alone. Getting a sound to come from my vocal chords to my tongue and through my lips was hard enough, but I practically had to push the words from my tongue. It was using muscles that hadn't been used in years, it was hard to form words I almost didn't remember how. I still have trouble getting the words out, making them form and sound right but it feels good to talk again.

"Jake is fine he's at the Torres house and if anything happens they'll call. Get some sleep, tomorrow you'll be going to that house for the last time. You have to sleep, tomorrow will probably be a very long day. The cops will be at your house looking for evidence of murder and you'll need to pack all that you want to take," Fitz insists as he begins stroking my back softly. Fitz continues talking, not about my parents but about all the things we'll do together in the coming months. Things just the two of us will do and things we'll do as a group. I begin to picture these things, I stop fretting over my parents and eventually fall asleep. We wake up to Fitz's phone ringing and he answers it.

"Yeah?...Okay we'll meet you there," he yawns and hangs up. "Your parents have been arrested and are at the station. Audra, Omar and the Torres boys are taking Jake to your house to pack up. The three of us can meet them there."

I nod and get of bed. Fitz gets up and goes out to make sure Bianca is awake and knows what's going on. When he comes back in the room I'm getting dressed. Once the three of us are ready we leave for my house and I hope I never have to see this place again after today. Jake and the Torres family are already here and we go into the house together.

It feels very odd to be back here now that the secret is out, and it doesn't help that there are police everywhere but mostly in our parent's room. They're spraying the walls and furniture with something. Some furniture has been moved and when they move the nightstand they find a stain on the wall and immediately begin swabbing it with something.

"Here's some boxes, pack what you want to take. We'll help you both," Audra says.

I take a box and go into my room, Fitz and Adam come in with me to help me pack. I mostly nod yes or no when they point to things wondering if they should be packed. I take clothes and my books, some pictures but nothing with my parents. Drew and Bianca help Jake and we get packed pretty quickly. As we're leaving I see that the door to our parent's room is closed and it seems to be very dark in there.

"Why don't you all come back to the house for lunch," Omar suggests as we're leaving.

"Yeah good idea I'm hungry," Fitz comments as we set the stuff in his car.

Adam rides with us this time and we all go back to the Torres house. Audra orders us pizza as a late lunch/early dinner.

 **Are Mom and Dad in jail?** I type on my phone and show it to Jake while we wait for the pizza.

"They're being questioned right now but they'll need evidence before they can be arrested," Jake says.

Adam puts on the TV and we wait for the pizza. Audra and Omar bring the pizza down and they have the same sort of look on their face that makes me think something happened.

"What's wrong?" Fitz asks before I can say anything.

"Nothing is wrong exactly, Glen and Helen have both been formally charged with murder. They found sufficient blood evidence in your parent's room to prove a murder happened. On Monday Grey will come to get a DNA sample from you so it can be typed against the blood and that way they can prove the blood belonged to your biological father. They are still being questioned but they have been placed under arrest and won't have a bail arraignment until at least Monday. Jake is welcome to stay here again and Daisy will be over tomorrow to have you look at apartments."

"Thanks," Jake smiles. Audra and Omar set down the pizzas and they go upstairs.

 **Are you moving into your own apartment?**

"I'm looking at apartments for the two of us to move into together. Now that Mom and Dad have been arrested Grey said the judge would grant me permanent custody. We'll have our own apartment and she's helping me find a permanent job. Audra and Omar have filed to be our sponsors, basically means they'll look in on us and we get some money from the government but I'll still need a job."

"Good," I smile and the word comes out strong and clear on the first try. Everyone else smiles and we start eating the pizza.

I feel as though an immense weight has been lifted from me. This secret that I've been holding since I was four years old, fractured memories that gave me nightmares and made me fearful of my parent's room, it's all in the open now. It's not my secret to hold anymore, it's not holding me down or holding me back. My parents can't get me anymore and I can speak. I have a voice now and I will no longer be silenced.

 **Look I didn't end on a cliffhanger at all let alone a really terrible one. There are one or two more chapters left in this story. There's an update next Sunday which will jump ahead just a bit to Clare and Jake moving into an apartment.**


	21. You Won The Battle You've Won the War

**Last chapter everyone I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget tomorrow begins one shot week and then it's short story month!**

 **Ch. 21 You Won The Battle You've Won the War**

 **(CLARE)**

"So are you ready to move into your own place tomorrow?" Fitz asks as we lie in his bed.

I've been staying here for just over a week, since the night I woke up screaming and Jake took me from the house. He was arrested but released and I spoke for the first time in eleven years. Our parents have been arrested on suspicion of murder and their parental rights revoked until after trial. Jake has emergency custody of me but Grey and Daisy are working at making it permanent.

A full scale investigation into my birth father's disappearance and "suspected" murder has begun. I know he's dead but the law needs a body or proof. They took my DNA and they were able to get DNA from all the blood evidence found in my parent's room but they haven't tested them yet. At least our parents aren't allowed anywhere near us.

"Yes and no," I reply quietly.

"Why no?" Fitz asks.

"I won't…be h…here with you every night," I tell him and he tightens his arm around me.

Talking is still hard for me, forming words and using my voice, but it gets easier the more I do it. I still haven't spoken in school or around large crowds or anything just my friends and Jake. I do talk with Fitz every night, usually just a few sentences but it's something.

"Jake said I'd have my own key to your place like you guys have for here and he'll let me sleep over. Probably not every night but I promise this is not the last night you'll spend in my arms," he says before gently kissing my temple.

"I love you Mark," I tell him as I write the words on his chest. I feel Fitz pull in a breath and tighten his arms again.

"That's the first time I've heard it in your voice. It was beautiful, your voice is gorgeous just like you. I love you Clare," he says tipping my chin up to join our lips. "We should get some sleep we're meeting the others at seven," Fitz yawns. I close my eyes and fall asleep happily in Fitz's arms.

We wake to his alarm and get dressed, Bianca is ready to go when we come out to the living room. The three of us drive to Adam and Drew's house. We're all meeting here for breakfast before we go to the new apartment Jake and I have. Owen is here to help us move in and so are Anya and Jane. Audra and Omar along with Owen's parents helped us to find furniture that we'd need for the living room. However, the first thing to do is go to our old house and get our beds. So after a nice big breakfast we load into a few cars and the moving van and go back to that terrible house.

"I…d…" I try to talk but it's just getting trapped in my throat. **I don't want to be here.** I type on my phone showing it to Jake and Fitz.

"I know, none of us do. We just need our beds and dressers; you can wait out here of you want?" Jake offers.

I bite my lip and think about it a moment. **No I want to do this. I need to. I need to see one last time just stay close.**

"We'll be right here with you," Fitz assures me.

We get out of the car and he puts his arm around me as we walk in. Our parents were released on bail but both were removed from the house so we could come get our stuff without having to see them. The house feels so cold and eerie, it's almost surreal to be back, to be here. The air is heavy and I can still see the remains of the forensics search in the house, furniture moved and other things. Since our parent's room has been declared an active crime scene it's still taped off and they have been sleeping in the living room or maybe a hotel I'm not sure. You can see where they sprayed to look for blood spatter, and in places you can see where there must have been large amounts because large chunks are cut out of the mattress and floor and the nightstand is gone.

I freeze for a moment, looking at the room and all I can see is the memories. The blood from that day, all the blood, my father lying on the floor and my mom telling me never to speak of it. My eyes flood with tears and I turn to Fitz hiding in his chest. He tightens his arms around me and kisses the top of my head whispering that I'm safe. I nod and turn away from my parent's room, Jake goes into his room with Drew and Bianca while Owen, Fitz and Adam come into mine. I finish emptying out my dresser and my desk while the guys strip my bed and break it down. Our furniture is moved downstairs and into the moving truck. Jake and I look through our rooms and the house to see if there's anything else we want to take and put it in a box. The truck already has the rest of our stuff so we drive to our new apartment to move in. Jake has the keys, he gives one to Fitz and one to me, he also made copies for Owen and Adam in case of emergency.

"So what do you think?" Jake asks as we walk into the apartment.

"Nice," I breathe the word out easily as there's a lightness in my chest now. I feel like I can breathe, speak, I feel safe.

Jake smiles and so does Fitz. We walk in with boxes and the guys move up the furniture with dollies. Once everything is in it actually looks like a home. It's not that different from Fitz and Bianca's apartment, two rooms in back separated by a Jack and Jill washroom. There's also a small living room, dining room and kitchen area. It's not very big but it's ours and it's home. Jake has a job at a hardware store after school and on the weekends. And we get money from the government too. With everyone's help we get moved in and unpacked by the end of the day. We'll have to go to the store tomorrow and get some other basics but Audra and Omar along with Owen's parents got us some basics like dish soap and that sort of thing. Jake orders pizza for dinner and we all eat together but everyone is tired from the move and everyone but Fitz goes home after dinner.

"I'm going to shower," I tell Fitz and Jake when everyone is gone.

"Your voice is so strong," Jake grins.

"I'm not silenced anymore and I don't feel that strangling pressure anymore," I reply and Jake's smile gets bigger.

Fitz kisses my cheek and I grab one of our new towels from the linen closet and take a shower. Not only does the warm water feel good but the shower feels great because it's in our apartment and I don't have to worry about my parents. After a nice long shower and brushing my teeth I am very happy to see Fitz already in my bed when I go to my room. I smile and go to the dresser to get out my pajamas.

"Don't," Fitz says rolling on his side, "sleep naked with me. I promise we won't do anything you're not ready for but I want to feel your skin, all of your skin, against mine."

I smile and get into the bed, he wraps his arm around me and I put my head on his chest. I like the feel of his skin against mine and just as I start to fall asleep I write **I LOVE YOU** **MARK** across Fitz's chest.

 **(FITZ)**

"Hey Fitz," Jake greets when I use my key to get into the apartment, "she's getting ready I'm going to go pick up Katie and I'll meet you guys there."

"Hang on I want to talk to you a minute," I tell him.

It's Saturday, February 1st and they've been in this apartment for exactly two weeks. Yesterday was Adam's birthday and Monday is Clare's so the two of them are having a joint birthday party tonight at the Torres house. Of course one of the best presents Clare could have gotten was to find out Jake has permanent custody of her.

"What's up?" Jake questions.

"Well now that your parents are in jail and awaiting sentencing, and you have custody, I think Clare needs to say goodbye to her dad. She really never had the chance and she had to live with the two people that killed her father and stole her voice. But that's all behind her now and I think it would be good for her to have a formal goodbye, a memorial or something. Maybe we can even get a marker for him at the cemetery."

"That's a great idea. We'll talk about it later I need to go pick up Katie and Clare should be almost ready. See you guys at the party," Jake says before leaving.

Just after he exits the apartment I hear Clare coming out of the washroom. She emerges in black jeans with white boots and a light blue sweater that brings out her eyes.

"You look gorgeous," I grin tipping her chin up to capture her lips in a gentle kiss.

"Thanks," she smiles when I release her from the kiss.

"You ready to party?"

She nods and we lock up her apartment before going down to my car. I drive us to the Torres house and we arrive just as Owen and Jane do. They hug Clare and wish her happy birthday and we walk into the basement together.

"Happy Birthday Adam," Clare grins.

"Happy Birthday," he smiles back and they hug.

Drew is here of course and so are Anya and Bianca. We greet everyone and Jake arrives with Katie. It isn't long before the house is full of party guests. Alli, Jenna, Eli, Connor, Dave, Wes and K.C. are all here. We kept it to just the people Clare was comfortable since it is her party, thankfully all the people she's comfortable with are also Adam's friends.

"You hear anything about your parents?" Owen asks Jake.

Clare is sitting with Adam and Anya and the three of us are at the back of the room getting the cake ready. After a few days of questioning, and when the blood in the room was proven conclusively to be Randall's, Helen turned against Glen and confessed to everything. The three of us have seen copies of her confession, she and Glen were having an affair and Randall caught them. Helen hit him over the head and Glen started hitting him before cutting his throat. Clare came in and after they got Clare back in her room they cut up Randall's body in the bathtub and put body parts into different garbage bags and then they loaded the garbage bags in Glen's truck. He dumped the garbage bags in different dumpsters and dumpsites throughout the area. They cleaned up the blood, said Randall ran off and the two of them got married.

After finding out that Helen turned against him Glen turned against her. He told pretty much the same story but blamed most of it on Helen. They both plead guilty so there's no trial and sentencing isn't for a week.

"I know they found some bone pieces in a couple of the places that Dad told them he dumped. It will take too long to prove that they're Randall's with the sentencing next week. They pled guilty so now it's just waiting to see what the judge gives them but Grey said they were trying for a minimum of ten years. By that time Clare and I will have graduated and live somewhere else and we'll never see them again," Jake says putting the last candle in the cake and lighting the candles.

We sing happy birthday to them and they blow out the candles. After cake we do presents, most people give them cash or gift cards. Bianca and Katie got them some clothes. Owen and Jane got Clare tickets to a show that I'm sure I'll be escorting her to. I had to think a lot about what to get Clare for her birthday. She's turning sixteen, she's away from her parents and she's speaking. Finally, after a lot of thought and considering budget I got her a ring. A silver ring with an amethyst in it, I had it engraved with **I LOVE YOUR VOICE – MARK** I hope she likes it. When she opens the box her eyes light up, I take the ring from the box and slip it on her finger.

"It's beautiful I love it, I love you," Clare smiles linking her arms around my neck and capturing my lips in a passionately loving kiss.

"I'm glad you like it," I grin.

"It's perfect," she smiles.

Clare shows off her ring and they finish opening presents, the party goes until after midnight. We help clean up before going back to Clare and Jake's apartment. Katie is spending the night too but they'll be in Jake's room.

"Listen I was talking to Jake earlier and I think you need to say goodbye to your dad. Randall not Glen. A funeral or memorial or something. Jake and I will look into getting a marker at the cemetery so you have somewhere to go to be close to him. You never got to say goodbye or even really grieve for him," I tell her and her eyes begin to wet with tears. She doesn't say anything but she nods and puts her head on my chest. It's bringing up something for her and she starts to sob lightly, I put my arms around her tightly. "Let's go to bed, I'll hold you all night long."

She nods and then kisses me gently. We get ready for bed and I hold her, when she stops crying we talk a little before falling asleep. When we wake up, and after eating breakfast the four of us go to a mortuary at the cemetery to pick out a marker for Randall. It turns out it's rather expensive. However, after meeting with the Torres family for lunch Omar says he's pretty sure that Helen and Glen's estate can pay for it.

It takes a few days but they manage it and Clare, with some help from Jake and me, picks out a marker and a place in the cemetery to put it. The memorial is arranged for Saturday and we keep it small. Of course Jake will be there, so will I, Bianca, Drew, Adam, Owen, Jane, Anya and Katie, along with Audra and Omar. Clare decides not to have everyone dress in black but we do dress nicely and everyone has a rose. We meet at the cemetery and walk to Randall's plot, there isn't actually anything in there but there's a simple marker that says Randall's name and that he was a loving father with his birthdate and date of death.

"I don't know what to say," Clare whispers to me.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. This is just to give you closure," I whisper back.

For a moment Clare stands there in my arms looking at the marker and turning the rose in her fingers. Then she kneels down setting the rose on the ground and running her finer over the marker.

"I'm sorry you were killed for their selfish love. I'm sorry that when your life was stolen they stole my voice and I couldn't say anything," she says before standing again.

Then one by one each of us kneels down and places down our rose and we leave. It wasn't much but it was enough for Clare to say her goodbye. After leaving the cemetery we return to the Torres house for food, it's not really a wake more of a gathering to support Clare.

"I feel better, I wasn't sure I would but it helped," Clare tells me.

"I'm glad," I smile. "March break is soon, what would you like to do?"

"Just be with you, it's all I want to do is be with you and my friends, hang out and…and talk. I never thought I would be talking, let away from my parents with friends and a boyfriend I love."

"You've come a very long way in a few short months I can't tell you how amazed I am or how proud."

"I never would have done any of it without you Mark, I love you."

I grin and cup her face before bringing our lips together, "I love everything about you Clare."

 **I hope you enjoyed this last chapter. Replacing this will be** _ **Hold Me Now & Don't Let Go **_**which will premier after short story month on Sunday, August 7** **th** **.**


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